House hacking in nice areas to families
I am currently in search of a small multi-family property that I can house hack with my girlfriend. We live simple and currently rent a far below market rate apparment in a nice area. Even though our rent is so low ($575 near the capital of NY) I don't like the idea of throwing money away and would love to lower our already insanely low hosung payment even further while building equity and potential positive cashflow. I want to house hack but I'm struggling to find multi-family properties that are not in warzones, or at the very least, not awful areas. Here and there I find a 2 family in a nice suburban area that has a small in-law dwelling on the top floor. We'd have no problem living in the small dwelling and renting the family sized bottom portion to a family, but is that a niche market of renters? How many families are looking to rent a house with their landlord living in the upstairs unit? I'm talking nice areas with good school districts. Otherwise it seems we'd be living in the ghetto. Am I juvenile to think I can house hack in a nice area? I'm stuggling to distinguish the different classifications of neighborhoods. What is an A compared to a B and C and so on? I listen to the podcasts and read the forums but have never seen this addressed. I should also mention financing is not an issuse. I have a rock solid credit score, down payment, income etc, and have been pre-approved for an amount that would cover anything I'm looking at.
TL;DR: I would prefer to house hack what Ben would call a luxury house hack, but instead of being the family, I'd like to rent out the family part and live in the small unit. Is that a niche market of renters? Otherwise it seems we'd be house hacking multi-families that are in rougher areas. What are the differences between classifications of neighborhoods? A,B,C, etc.