This deal, i used my first successful buy and hold property and pulled a HELOC to secure financing and reserves.

I am interested to get tools that can help me be successfull. I

The outer boroughs—Bronx, parts of Queens, maybe Staten Island—are where people tend to have the most success, usually with multi-families.

He ends up with a "one size fits all" set of percentages, after he goes through, and bypasses the actual numbers. 

And congrats on your success as well!

If it is big enough that they could all fit in one side, then maybe she could still only charge her father-in-law $150/month and maybe rent out the other side to someone else.Her current house actually has a basement that could be finished into an apartment.

This fits my plan for a couple of reasons, I plan to rent one unit long team and as I travel a fair bit for work I'll Airbnb the second unit when I'm overseas.

Congrats on your success so far.

I'll also give them a list of "must haves" based on comps as well (for example oversized kitchen island, dedicated powder room, minimum 48" hallways, large master closet, lots of windows for natural light, gas fireplace, minimum 10' ceiling in great room, consideration of sun exposure, etc).Also if you give a good architect your budget (for example I need to be able to build this for under $350/SF) then they will design something to fit that budget. 

Hey Andrew: The Freddie Mac Small Balance Loan (SBL) and Fannie Mae Small Loan multifamily programs could be a good fit for a project like this.