I read the story as well, and to the vast majority, it seems to be a waste of ones life.

It’s required for low down payment conventional mortgages.As for additional FHA stipulations, I’d read up on the FHA Self Sufficiency rule.

Also, if you do end up going FHA on another multiplex, one thing to keep in mind is the FHA Self Sufficiency Rule.

Further, my income is sufficient (i.e., above average) and that was never cited as a problem.

Conventional you can do as low as 5% down but thats only for 1 unit property 2-4 unit properties will require any where from 15-25% down payment.FHA will allow you to purchase with 3.5% on 1-4 units however FHA has its own hurdles when you get to 3-4 units (these dont apply to 1-2 units) there is a rule called the SS or self sufficiency rule which requires 75% of gross rental income of all units to be > the monthly PITI in order to qualify.

It's up to the tenant to ensure they have sufficient funds, if a Cozy payment fails or a check bounces I then charge the tenant a fee (assuming this causes it to be late).If you're really concerned you can take what @Jonathan Cope does one step further and require payments on, say, the 25th in your lease.

Most expensive route of course as you are paying them by the hour, but I learned a great deal and am now self sufficient and they've been tremendously helpful in giving me birds eye view of what I need to fix and focus on next. 

Also be aware some commercial lenders require you to have sufficient liquidity after you purchase the property.For example, Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae require enough cash for like 6 to 9 months of mortgage payments.

I know I could probably go hard money but my concern is being able to refi into a normal bank loan within 6-12 months because I'm certain my equity won't be sufficient by then, even if I'm reinvesting all profits, and especially since the payments will be interest only. 

Individual situations can be vastly different which is why CPA's like Brandon when they give general advice, also suggest taking that and sitting with your personal CPA to see if it'd work for you in your situation.