But is it better or worse than not buying anything at all?

Often 10-20-30 degrees cooler than the inland Valley's the OR Coast is a remote but accessible refuge. 

Hey Everyone,I just graduated college with no debt so I want to buy my first property and House Hack with college students, I found a property currently selling for $175,000 dollars, but I think It can be negotiated to a lower purchase price since it is a little outdated and the other houses in that same street have sold for less money, although it is outdated it could be rented for $550 dollars a month + utilities  and since it is a 4 bed, 2 baths; renting out the other 3 bedrooms while I live in one of them would help me break even with the house's monthly expenses.

It was a bit confusing when you said that a buyer can only get a credit up to the closing costs, but then later used an example where the credit was more than closing costs and the buyer could use those funds for improvements.

If you run the numbers properly, you’ll see that borrowing money, even hard money, is almost always cheaper than giving away half your profit.We use the calculation above for screening, but we always run the numbers in detail before agreeing to a loan.

So do not expect appreciation to be your savior, the facts remain that this market will bounce back and will appreciate more than the Midwest, but can you carry the debt for that long until it does?

If I bought a house hack, would my monthly payment be the same or less than it would be if I decided to rent instead of buy? 

The in-place plumbing will overkill, so if over time you lock and shut down a couple bathrooms (so you have less to maintain), whatever. 

But you have a much higher chance of missing something than a trained attorney.

So many multifamily places available for your house hacking are going to be older and may be less nice than your accustomed.