I've started my journey in the expensive Seattle market and found house hacking a duplex gave me a tremendous boost as my first property.The top 10 advantages that played out quite well:1.

We have decent credit, plenty of ambition, and really don't like our day jobs, but we don't have the cash to get us started.

Now if I remodel the kitchen, bathrooms, doors, windows and some other stuff I could probably rent it out for $650-$700, increasing my cash flow, specially when I move out.

Take for example a six plex I sold last year, that was for sale as 'cash only' due to an incomplete unit.

I have no experience with flips or BRRRs and don't want to use all my equity for low cash flow right now either.

Gives me a "cash flow" of $500.

Purchase price: $212,000 Cash invested: $46,000 Sale price: $325,000 Found a great 2013 SFR in an A class suburb that was mostly interior cosmetic.....IE smelled like cat urine or smells like money!!

It’s negative cash flowing to begin with, and you will likely have to rehab it to some degree if you put renters into it.  

I was able to cash flow from the deal which helped me pay for the HELOC.

The rental market is still extremely hot and prices are high with inventory low, but I have still been managing to cash flow on the new purchases.