Here is my experience, and what I regret: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/922/topics/1133476-hous...As far as analysis, house hacking has a different metric in my opinion. 

We're largely looking at value add projects (aka BRRRR **cringe**) so that the vast majority of capital is coming out once a refi is done.Not vanilla, obviously.

The amount of equity I call pull is less than the cash I have but not significantly less.When doing this analysis it struck me that it may not be worth using a HELOC for the simple fact that the interest rate is ~9%* while the funds in my high yield account are only yielding ~5%*.

The city wants to tear the property and surrounding properties down Zillow said it’s worth 38000The city offer me 13000.I could use some adviceHard to give advice with limited information, but as a general rule, the longer you wait and the further down the line their project is the more valuable your property will be to them.Zillow (and all automatic online) estimates are very unreliable, so don't base on that.

Even if you are focussing on appreciation, having a property that cash flows will help when the expensive surprise problems happen.Can't stress enough to take your time, learn as much as you can, and be cautious with your first investments (but try not to get analysis paralysis).

The best projects I've seen from my desk are folks who are doing hyper-targeted, well-researched deals that are generally in higher cost of living (there are exceptions) areas. 

A few public projects have cleaned this up but the area has never prospered since.

I've learned a lot in my 4-year project, and it has been a lot of work.

If you want to see an example of one of our projects, here is the airbnb link:https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/4...Hope I can help!

Every project needs a quote and you should be able to estimate the material costs.