We took the depreciation on our personal tax return in 2022.

You don't want a person living in a place with that in the basement.

We are shooting for 3x income, but might settle for as low as 2x, if the person seems like a good candidate.

I would vet them intensely and make sure the lease is personally guaranteed. 

It is a bit of a gamble, but personally, I always get my own bids from people I will hire and either take a credit on price or have title issue the checks directly to those contractors to get work done as soon as I close.  

Haven't personally used either but they are both on my radar.

As long as the person hasn't used RAFT in the recent past then RAFT will cover up to $7,000 for first, last and security as long as they qualify.

James has time and time again always posted extremely helpful information on every post, he would be a great person to connect with. 

My advice when looking at a house hack is to not get too in the weeds on how the property or building performs compared to other properties in the area, but rather view it from the lens of what it will do your personal finances and the impact it will have on your personal cost of living.  

If you can't keep control of your personal finances, you are highly unlikely to succeed in real estate investing.