Contact the zoning department and see if you can get the property rezoned as a duplex.

I highly recommend just calling your lender and asking to speak to their assumptions department. 

Quote from @Moe Aly: Hey Everyone, just wanted to introduce myself, first time using bigger pockets, I am responsible for the wholesaling department in our company here in Columbus ohio and we assign around 15-20 deals a month!

Got lots of experience Rehabbing Homes including my love/hate relationship with the Department of Planning and Permitting.   

All real estate activities you engage in ad a licensee are subject to your broker supervision, and fall under the regulatory rules of your state's real estate commission or department of licensure.

Administered by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, it provides rental assistance for some 2.3 million qualified households annually.

If you do not qualify, you would then look into if you would qualify with renting your departing residence. 75% of the lease will be used to offset that departing residence mortgage. as you mentioned the timing of renting the place can absolutely be tricky so you would hope you do not have to do this.Finally, and I guess would be sorta of a trick, but we do bridge loans on occasion in this case IF you can qualify once you get the property rented at market value even if debt to income ratio is too high before it is rented.

Based on what I am seeing on the Department of State website, in order to do this I'll need to be a licensed broker.

You might try a university that has a real estate department.

Hello Lisa, I'd recommend reaching out directly to the planning department.