My answer always seem to center around health insurance and my wife and I’s future.

She has a very ill husband and needs to finish her move to Florida because of his health.

I also must move from my current house due to health issues (it has way too many stairs) so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone here and just owner-occupy a multi-family investment property.

In three months they could lose a job, be transferred, have a health issue or death in the family, break up, or a myriad of other things.

I had unresolved human resources complaints as well.

I'm currently in Indianapolis, Indiana and I'm planning out my future house hacking journey before I leave Cosmetology school around September 2020( I started school around June 10th 2019 and I'm currently on leave due to some health issues).I've been a unmarried homemaker for the past 3 or 4 years, I'm currently building my credit (I'm around 600 so far), and I plan on working part time as soon as I graduate from beauty school.

lenders / underwriters are  often picky regarding any perceived " health and safety " type issues ...rotten decking would fall into this category .....ideas  1) change loan programs / lenders  to see if this issue can be  tabled   2)  possible to patch the holes and  fix the rotten areas  versus  re doing the entire deck ? 

Its human nature.

In general, if the improvements have to do with “health and safety”, you can pass it through.

My properties are in low C'class neighborhoods that many would call D'class.But I rent primarily to health care facility workers who are well-educated in infection control and are flat-out paranoid about bringing home health-care-facility superbugs to their families.