I have recently been trying to get my first investing opportunity and looking for ways to creatively finance homes.

Time cost you money , time cost you lost opportunity , and not knowing what rates will do 6 months from now could cost you even more . 

Participate in online forums, go to local real estate meetups, and make connections with seasoned investors.

The Chicago suburbs offer a lot of great opportunities to invest, so you also live in the right place too! 

Hadn't thought of that and will keep it in mind as an option for this or other opportunities.

However, there are a few factors to consider when weighing your options:Market Dynamics: Oakland's real estate market can be competitive, but it also offers opportunities for house hacking, particularly in neighborhoods where prices are more reasonable.

Have you been looking for house hack opportunities?

I don't have a staff of six figure marketing/compliance professionals to make it all compliant, so I don't advertise rates online, and you won't see any in this post.

Thank Hey Eric,DSCR is a tool like any other loan product and as others have said, it will help you to scale, but you can't live in/house hack the property.Full disclosure; my company does DSCR and hard money for fix and flip exclusively and I'll tell you the same thing I tell all of our clients-exhaust the opportunity to use conventional financing BEFORE you dip your toe in the DSCR world. 

I don't want to miss a good opportunity but I am also ok being patient - just trying to get all my ducks in a row, so I have the knowledge if something does come along - our credit is 800+ and we have about 900k in equity in our home with a 3.625 interest rate.