If you're looking to lower living expenses House Hacking is the way to go but I doubt with House Hacking you will be getting Positive Cash Flow every month in our local Market.Pick a Market and consider investing Out of State, its challenging but with time & system in place gets easier..

The price point is much lower, the rents are steadily increasing.

The electrical on that one is split.For us, and the option without knowing any more I'd recommend is to : We found the easiest thing to do was to pay the bills yourself and simply build what you think is the average utility bills attributable to each space into the rent price.In terms of marketing, market the place at the lower so you don't turn away people and then negotiate you paying those bills (the increase in rent functionallyThat said, there are other options but of course they involve cost. 

Make sure to mention the tax advantages of seller financing: they will be able to stay in a lower tax bracket and just generally keep more of their money.If they are on the fence about providing seller financing, offer to let them come up with terms if they will provide it to you.

That and I also lower my eventual selling costs because no realtor commissions are involved. 

My main hesitation is that it is in a lower-income area.

He said he'd do the work himself or something and will sell next year.Whatever, I'll be waiting next year with a lower offer.Edit: I just reread my last post, jeez it's been 3 months already, I was hopeful he'd do the repaira but he hasnt... roof still leaking... yea good luck pal lol

I can find information on rent prices in the overarching Richmond market, but nothing specific to that sub-market, which i'm pretty rents lower.

With PMI, you would need higher rent to cover the additional PITI payment so if you need 2% to cash flow without PMI, you would want to raise, not lower, your rent to purchase ratio.

Please note: I own lower end rentals so I don’t get the same complaints I get on the higher end properties I reluctantly manage.