Help me with deciding an area for my house hack

[Vivan Bhalla]

Hello,

I am a software engineer who works remotely and lives in Jersey City. I am planning to invest in a house hack using the FHA loan. I have close to 50k to invest by Feb 2024, that is when my current lease ends and I am planning to pull the trigger. I have the following markets in mind but just confused on which one will be the best (my goal is to achieve FI, I need 2000$ extra cashflow to get to my number):

Jersey City and surroundings - This is good for me because this is where I live and would want to live in the future as well. I know the market and I know it is growing and the quality of tenants is good. I can go a little bit far from NYC and find good deals. The only issue is the tax rate, NJ has the highest property tax and this could hurt my profit margins. Another issue could be to find the best deal as there is a shortage of MF houses in the range I would want

Columbus, Oh - This is a market about which I have heard from a lot of people and my research shows it is quite fabulous. There is growing economy and population and the house prices have still not caught up. The only issue here would be that I will have to move to Columbus for a year (which is not the biggest issue), and also get a car (I do not have a car in NJ). This might just add some extra expenses.

There is one other option in my mind which is Florida - I love warm weather and I love the beaches. The only issue here is the possibilty of natural hazards and the increased insurance rate.

Would love to get idea from people who have done house hacking in these areas or still investing to get an idea as it is very easy to use someone's plan and replicate it.

Thanks in advance

[Benjamin Carver]

What @V.G Jason said is right on. I'm under contract on my first SFH house hack in Raleigh (triangle area). If you want to chat about that, feel free to PM