It was inspected as a duplex, and I'd bet it'll be appraised as a duplex as well (basically removing the oven gives the appraiser plausible deniability), which could create value issues and impact your DTI if you need to use rental income to qualify. 

I know what the competition is and what other choices they have.

May have been an actual choice, or simply unaware that you should have, either way a court case on this would go nowhere.Use it as a learning experience for the next time around.

I'm in the union on long island so I have a decent W2 job to help get started, I think a house hack would be my best bet starting out but, what do you guys think?

When their lease ended in August, you could have offered them to sign another one-year lease, or they could pay a higher fee for a monthly rental to offset the risk you face of a winter vacancy.When my tenants are up for renewal, I give them three choices:1.

Respectfully,Zach The best bet is likely to create a new LLC that lays things out in a straightforward but legally strong and standard operating agreement, etc. - LLC doc sets are fairly cheap and easy to create these days (with limited assistance from lawyers) and its much much better to have that cover bases on arrangements like this - it will also fit nicely with financing options - whether you take on debt from a lender in a co-equity situation like your first plan (refinance loan to LLC post rehab?)

Hi, Ohio is a good choice to invest in real estate.

I remember when Vacasa put out the same type of data and laughed when it showed one of my markets as a top 5 choice. 

If you can run a successful arbitrage business you can make a lot of money, and if you hedge your bets and put that money back into owning more assets then why not?

@Katie Berry  give them a choice of a month of gym membership or the rent credit you suggested.