Cleaning up our work area, I remembered what my old co-worker once told me on the construction site "There are 3 ways a job gets done: One way in our head, another way planned out, and how the job actually goes." 

You hit the nail on the head...that's where the SFH to Duplex conversion gets financially unrealistic.

Try to simplify your first deal as much as possible (the deal you described is over my head and definitely outside of my risk tolerance).

Quote from @Jason Phillips: Hi Steven - Sorry for the delay, but I am an investor with Goodegg (Hotel Fund and Wealth Fund II) and I have nothing but praise.

The Alabama song “I’m in a hurry” would play in my head. 

Quote from @Jessie Dillon: one thing that you can do is have the seller transfer the deed to a living trust that they're the sole beneficiary of, and call the bank to give them a heads up that they're doing it for estate planning purposes. then, a month or more later, buy the property sub-to, and change the beneficiary of the trust. the bank can not see who owns a trust, and if they ever come back and question it, you can just swap the beneficiaries again, show the bank that the seller is still the owner, then swap it back again when they buzz off. this is one of many reasons it's so important to keep a good relationships with the seller if you're buying this way. you have to work together on some stuff.In summary: fraud. 

Prep that if gonna be in London public rest rooms on every corner is not a thing, so empty that "tank" before head out. 

I'll head there next. 

Think of this;  if the buyer can't qualify for a bank loan,,,, why the heck should you stick your head into a note and mortgate noose??   

Ihave kept this ratio in my head since the first time and make all mydecisions using it, before I move into a market.