Financing question (rental or house hack first?)

[Burke Fisher]

Hey guys so I have a question, my fiance and I have been into real estate investing for the past year. We have a flip project going on in Atlanta and now we've been thinking thinking about house hacking something around ($250k) and finally getting out of our apartment, we already have a close friend who would rent out the room/apt/duplex but we also really want to get into one of our local rental markets and purchase a cash flowing SFH since they are so cheap and its on an army base (PP:$100K Rent:$1,200) (we would do both of these conventional) so my question is, should I purchase the cheaper rental first and get it cash flowing then go onto either buying a home or buying a home to house hack? Just don't know which one would look better to a loan officer. Please reply with your opinions or experience! Thanks Guys!

[Grace Wang]

@Burke Fisher Some questions to consider: How much are you paying in rent? How much would your friend be paying you in rent? What would the PITI be for the house hack? After renting it to your friend, how much is the difference you and your fiancé would be responsible for? It all comes down to the numbers. I would also chat with a lender to see how purchasing the army base rental property first might affect your DTI. If you want straight-up opinion, I'd probably house hack first because it's hard to beat those ROI numbers!