House hacking is an incredible way to get into buy and hold real estate investing with a relatively low financial barrier to entry… plus the added benefit of reducing housing costs!

You are already claiming the interest portion from the mortgage payment, so not sure if using the LOC to reduce your mortgage is a good idea.  

Any environmental issues must be contended with, zoning or land use violations will come to light when a property goes under contract and may kill any sales or drastically reduce the property’s market value.

For example my 2 bedroom with 2 TVs jumped to $170, I had to call in and get them to reduce it to $80.

New Britain Still has quite a negative stigma, mostly due to crime.

While there are some big positives (low maintenance), I don’t think they’re generally outweighed by the negatives of increasing HOA payments, reduced appreciation, and my biggest concern-changing HOA rules on rentals (what happens if the board changes the rental cap or eliminates rentals all together?). 

Since the governing MLS in the area (some are owned by the local Realtor associations and some by private parties) don't have the listings, many of the local agents don't see the listings and thus competition is reduced (so the argument goes). 

You’ll get the additional tax benefit of the interest on the mortgage being tax deductible, reducing your tax liability.

If they don't want to, move on but there is always a way to make it work it's just a matter of if the seller wants to do it Is it better to have the price reduced the amount of the repairs, or to have those repairs paid for?

@Bill McCaslin I got some bad news for you , every neighborhood can have drug dealers , home invasions , other crime .