Every time, every single time we’ve made an exception for a local or hosted someone we didn’t feel entirely comfortable with, we have regretted it.

This might also depend on your comfort zone of investing out of state.

If the new mortgage amount for the loan at the higher amount works so that the property still cash flows at the margin you're comfortable with, I'd say use the 203k to complete all the renovations needed.

You're young and have plenty of time to invest, I would definitely go to Hawaii if I was in your shoes.

Put yourself in their shoes for a moment.  

I finally got to a place where I felt comfortable to take action and I am now under contract on my first duplex which I will be house hacking and stuck on what I should do.I put an offer in at $149,500 on a property that was listed at $165,000.

This extended the amount of reserves I had in the bank, and was also part of the reason I felt comfortable with having a co-signer to qualify for a slightly larger/more expensive property.So now, I had a decision to make.

I would look at how much your payment is going to be and make sure you are comfortable paying that without any renters on your current salary.

Could you assume that cost and still be comfortable?

Id love to go thru with it but I would feel more comfortable renegotiating to hopefully accommodate for any drops in values in the upcoming months.