We want to begin by house hacking with a duplex in order to eliminate our current rent payment and have more cash to invest. 

It has a house up front, and 4   2 bed/1 bath  apartments on a back. 

You have to deposit cash up front in your bidding account to be able to bid.  

You can use a DSCR loan (you can find lenders by using the "Find a Lender" tab on BP) and not have to worry about a tax income or W-2s, the underwriting is done based off of the property's cash flow.

We never took out the equity from the property; however, if I were to do it again, I would likely have done a cash-out refinance or a HELOC so you can pull out the equity and roll it into the next deal.

Professional management and screening will have the largest impact on how your investment performs month to month from a cash flow perspective. 

If you own the property in cash, you can get away with whatever insurance you want and can even get $700/yr for a duplex.

Fannie: B2-1.3-03, Cash-Out Refinance Transactions (02/01/2023)Freddie: 4301.5(a) 3/6/2024

As someone with little capital to invest at this moment, I’m wondering if this is a reasonable (and relatively safe, depending on the deal) option to pursue even if I’m not clearing much in the way of cash flow to start. 

Her and her bf plan on converting a section of the house to an attached ADU to help with bringing in some cash flow and renting out the other bedrooms to some friends of theirs.