It also stays off of your personal credit/DTI which will help you as you live your life outside of these properties.Those will be a specific set of lenders that you will want to look into as many of them have different requirements that you would have to adhere to, but overall much more of a simpler process than your conventional lenders, while being a couple of points higher in processing. 

I now have a family including five kids at home so living in half a duplex is not practical. 

I currently live in New York but I am currently exploring the options of investing in a small multifamily property.

If you use the search function, there are a number of threads on this.Pros-you can rent by the room and make more moneyCons-students are often less experienced at living on their own and may do things that result in repairs (eg wrong soap in dishwasher), higher turnover, more calls to deal with things, higher chance of parties.If you do it, you may want to get a cleaner in once a week to clean common areas (students clean their own rooms and keep the place tidy, wash their own dishes) and you will need to get someone in to take care of the yard.

Usually these investors are looking to do live in flip as their primary residence.

I don’t plan on living in Philadelphia long-term but probably will for at least the next year.

Part of your rent payments can go towards the down payment, allowing you to build up the necessary funds over time while living in the property.

If the value has not gone up a lot since purchase, this might not apply to you, but one thing that is often a factor when converting a primary to a rental is losing your section 121 capital gains tax exclusion (up to $250k individual, $500k married couple if you've lived in the property for 2 of the last 5 years).

I had been looking for properties around the area I currently live, but very few make sense in regard to the numbers given the current state of the economy.

Is there anyone who lives in NYS and wholesale using Duck Fund for EMD?