So answer the OPs question, traditional buy and hold a house off the MLS is one of the worst investments today for most people as prices and interest rates are up.

Single-Family Home with a Basement:Pros:Familiar single-family living with potential rental income.Can be a good starter home, quieter living if the basement is well-soundproofed.Potentially lower initial investment compared to a duplex (depending on renovations).Cons:Finding tenants might take longer, especially if the basement isn't a fully formed apartment.You'll be responsible for all maintenance and repairs for both units.Less separation between your living space and the rental unit.Multifamily Duplex:Pros:Clear separation between your living space and the rental unit.Potentially higher rental income with a full, separate unit.Faster tenant search as it's a more traditional rental format.Cons:Might be slightly more expensive upfront than a single-family home with a converted basement.Potential for noise complaints if the duplex isn't well-built.Dealing with potentially two sets of tenants (though vacancy rates are typically lower with duplexes).So, which one to buy first?

This would obviously change the strategy but I have even considered making one unit an STR and the other 2 or 3 units a traditional 12-month.

But a traditional loan will not work. 

@Victor Nguyen let's not assume and be clear, for most seasoned investors SFR = 1-4 family since you can get a traditional mortgage on them.

Warrantable condos can get traditional financing, such as Conventional loans.

While MLS remains the primary platform for on-market deals, the majority of deals I encounter originate from off-market sources, often through wholesale channels.When you say wholesale, someone(wholesaler) finds a homeowner who is in need of cash quickly or cannot go through traditional process of selling their house for some reason, and then the wholesaler finds an investor to buy the house who will pay in cash? 

My DTI ratio is extremely low, so maybe traditional financing could work.

Looking to purchase my first home and was initially going to go the traditional fixed rate mortgage without buying down points with the assumption rates will go down in the next year or 2 and I will just refinance.

@Tabb PittYou should get atleast 25% down and charge atleast 9% interest as you can get 9% all day long private lendingThis will essentially kill the deal for any qualified borrower so you will end up with non qualified borrowers who most likely will default in 3 yearsJust sell it traditional method