Or should I just wait until the Fall or Winter, in hopes that the market will soften and I can afford a house hack using a traditional lender?

I have a template i pulled off the internet. i suppose i should have it looked at by an attorney to ensure it affords me all the legal protection i need.

My suggestion to you: forget this idea and look for an investment that your 401k can afford on it's own, without your personal involvement. 

@Josiah KayJim Hiller is great and affordable.

My personal opinion is unless you can afford to lose your money, you're better off investing where you KNOW the local markets, neighborhood, where schools are, what areas to avoid, etc. 

I realize this will increase the mortgage payment and eat into any profits if we rent, but we can easily afford it and would like to get the sucker paid off.Any and all advice is super appreciated!!

I'm finally looking into getting a loan and these areas seem to be all I can afford at the moment.

Before I could afford BP Pro, I made my own spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel.

What i definitely would not advise doing is using the money to go all-in on a lower tier, sub-50k property just because that's what you can afford in cash.

I just want to share the post here to see if anyone interested as well, especially in Seattle areas where I know there is a huge need for affordable housing.