Perhaps you missed the portion where I explained that it sounded like the LANDLORD didn't communicate well likely causing the tenant not to feel comfortable responding.

Section 8 can be great because the tenant is only paying a portion of the rent, but managing the tenancies is not easy, especially a hard no from out-of-state.

I shopped a significant portion of 2 days to obtain coverage at over twice the price. 

You may not be able to get all of your money out, but often a portion so that you end up with less money in downpayment from your savings vs. the value you added and then you can scale to the next project. 

This will free up a significant portion of your monthly payment in which the difference would be applied towards your loc, plus you could potential pay down your home as little as in 5 years or so.

The owner-occupied portion makes things difficult, what options do I have? 

A portion of the payment is going towards loan pay down.

Sadly, it seems a good portion of LO's do not. 

@Joseph SheahanI can speak to the refinance portion: As long as a guarantor with good credit has at least 25% ownership refinancing should be an issue.

In the rental agreement it clearly states that the rented portion is just one bedroom with a shared bathroom.