First house hack deal

[Benoni Cole]

I just looked at a property in my area for a 2 unit duplex with 2 bedrooms 1 bath an each. One units vacant and so I would be living in that one while the other is rented by a long term tenant on a month to month lease. The asking price is 279k and was built in the 80's which is not too bad age wise in my market. It has a newer roof, new meters, new appliances, new hot water heater, separately metered (I WOULD ONLY BE RESPONSIBLE FOR LAWN CARE AND SNOW REMOVAL) Property has been well kept maintained and will accept FHA financing which is my best option to buy given my credit score and DTI. It also has a good tenant. Because the property is is well maintained I was thinking about offering slightly above asking price of $285 but asking for seller's assist 9,000 in seller assist to make the numbers work. The PITI would be about $2600/a month with the current tenant paying $1,250 a month leaving my end at about $1,350. Does not seem like a great property to house hack from that aspect alone and my current rent is about $1,520 a month which means this only reduces my living expense at about $180/ a month. The pre-approval I received from my lender does include the paydown of about $13k in debt and is included in those numbers. That reduction in debt frees up about $800 in monthly expenses which technically is additional savings I can add to the $180.

I have struggled to find a duplex that falls into my price range that takes FHA or takes FHA but is out of my price range. I don't expect my income level to change that much, but do expect my credit to improve somewhat but I would have to wait until the end of the calendar year in hopes it improves enough to get me to the next test of loan FHA loan products that yield a better interest rate. From what my lender told me even if my credit does improve the main impact it will have is reducing my closing costs, but the most he can see being shaved off my mortgage is about $180-$200 a month. And you never know how the market is going to react o we cannot say what interest rates are going to do 3-6 months from now and I really want to get in the game now and not continue to wait on the sidelines. Do you think this is a deal worth making an offer?