Living in one unit and renting out the other helps you scale quickly because you need a lower down payment for a primary residence. 

I believe it tends to give me a slightly lower return, because the sponsor is going to be more careful, and if there is a severe downturn will prevent me from taking catastrophic losses.

Plus, given where rates are right now, I genuinely believe we're at or near a local peak.I expect rates will head lower soon, maybe revisiting 6% in the coming months.

For amount, it would likely be in the $500-700k range.My expectations are to have a negative cash flow while living there, and possibly a slight negative cash flow after moving out (until interest rates lower or rents increase).

Discussion in the lower $600's.I've managed to convince her to get into real estate.

.- get into real estate with a lower rate and lesser percentage down payment.

These are full-time government employees and at a lower risk of trashing your place than the general populace.

Could do I a lot less to get lower rents (for example an upgrade may be $10-$15k where a bare minimum repairs and cleaning may only be $1-2k).

Hello BP Community,As is very common I have friends who purchase their rental houses under their own name in order to get lower interest rate loans with better terms and also cheaper landlord insurance, and then they transfer the title into their LLC after closing. 

Also that will give me a lower payment which will allow me to have bigger profit from rent.