Answers to this post depend a lot on your jurisdiction. 

There are a lot of resources here that can help get you started. 

If you're keeping an eye on Miami, Downtown should be at the top of your watchlist.

Hey Sanford, welcome to BiggerPockets and the exciting world of house hacking!

I’m considering a creative approach to buying my neighbor’s half of our duplex and would love feedback or advice from the community.Background:I’ve owned one side of the duplex for 9 years.

Well that is a lot to learn but you can learn most of it here on BP.What you won't learn her on BP or on the internet behind your computer screen is your local market.

It's definitely doable, just more of a personal decision.

There are definitely a lot of Chicago investors that do fix and flip successfully.

Not the cash flow play a lot of people expect. 

Many lenders are completely backing out of the FL market based on just the insurance risk alone, so I would talk with a few groups to see if you can line up the required insurance policy first before you get too far down that road.Are you planning on leveraging some kind of financing to get started or are you planning on doing it in cash?