@Douglas Spence I would rather drink all night and play call of duty while blaming somebody else for my poor financial situation!

Start out by playing defense and reduce your expenses.

His legal advice saved the deal, because if I was left to my own remedies of "good faith" negotiations, I would have played all my cards and been forced to fold.

I have about 150k cash to play with.

Buying and rehabbing used homes can be a gamble - I've placed some that cost as little as $10 - 14k for buying, relocating, rehabbing, renting, etc.

I'll play with Rentometer over the next few days and see how far it gets me.I was finding City-Data was cutting off in 2010 ish depending on the area. 

You would need to network with HR professionals in your market for referrals since they generally are the ones who arrange for those contracts.Do your homework...it would not be the play I would make.

So it's a bit of a gamble in my opinion as opposed to hard money loan,  and you better make sure you have extra good deal.

The more systems you have in play, the quicker you can assess and make decisions.

Househacking here isn't an income play; it's a wealth-building play.