You are also going to need to decide how to manage the property. 

A small multifamily property is a smart choice for a first investment—it offers a great balance of income potential and manageable scale for someone new to the space.Don’t worry about being ambitious; it’s clear you’ve done your homework, and you’re already ahead of the game by setting a clear goal.

Our manager’s credit score requirement is 550, but even that has been hard to satisfy.

Oh man- welcome to self management.

I'm a broker and property manager.

To rent the home, I would lose about $2,500 per month (based on comparable rents in my area, property management fees, etc).Both options loose the same amount by roughly 2 years, and by this time, I still will not have built up much more equity in the home to make selling it a break even unless there is price appreciation by then.My dilemma is this: I speculate that my home will not appreciate much in the next 3-5 years due to the rapid pace of development in the surrounding area.In 5-10+ years, maybe, but by then I'll have bled $150,000 - $300,000.I have thought about this a lot and feel that I mar'-too close to the problem to see the best solution.

Could it attract squatters, or is it the right move for responsible property management?

I am hoping to learn about managing my own property and how to get tenants. 

In the past two years we have completed over a dozen flips, We are holding 20 rental units self managed and 2 self managed Air BnBs.

Meet with financial advisers/wealth managers and see what other options other than real estate there are and how to best allocate / diversify. ie have you maxed out your TFSA?