When I started House Hacking New Jersey I to was union carpenter. 

I have a couple houses I want to try it out with.

I definitely recommend starting house hacking, then look to input sweat equity for repairs to refinance or sell later

As a serial house hacker, my advice for your first house hack is to simplify things. 

The U.S. housing market will finally turn the corner in 2026, with a double-digit increase in home sales supporting a 4% increase in home prices, according to new predictions from the National Association of Realtors®.NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun forecasts sales volume for existing homes will rise 14% next year after three years of stagnation, and sees new-home sales rising 5%.

That means an open house has a 96-98% chance of NOT selling.  

Let’s look at Indianapolis IN; (not my market, just using it since it is a popular place)  https://www.redfin.com/city/9170/IN/Indianapolis/housing-market for a median price of $250K That's the range you want to start out in, as a beginner.Then we assume 35% of ARV (After Repair Value) to do the rehab, holding costs, sales costs and profit.

I'm not looking to house hacking.

Looks well built and at least 10 feet from the house.

In fact housing prices only fell around 7% back in 2008 where many markets saw over double that.Real Estate AppreciationIn Kansas City, MO median home price rose 5.8% year-over-year to about $317,000.