This is my first experience -- either they are professional deal killers in general, or I ended up dealing with 3 in a row who happened to be deal killers. 

The good news is, with your experience and equity built, you're in a fantastic position to jump in.The key thing to remember with these larger deals is that they're rarely done solo.

Instead, I'm interested in gaining experience and learning from your expertise.

I have 40 years of experience in the home design and construction industry, a ton of skills, and talent.

I was wondering if there's anyone here from the the area that has experience with house hacking to pick their brain a bit.

Ill keep you posted on my experience with them.

Its certainly hard to cash flow significantly in the current environment (high rates, high values etc) - I tend to think though that just "doing" a first deal even if it doesn't make too much is valuable versus getting stuck in analysis paralysis - the learning from the experience of actual doing it generally is 10X + even a ton of courses, info, spreadsheets etc

You don't need to know everything to get started; you need a foundation to build on and the rest will come through experience and then refining your education.You can build a basic understanding of investing in 3-6 months.

Then, look and see if any properties fit your strategy that you can acquire at that price point.

They use your experience, credit score, reserves and the rental income must cover the PITI.