Appreciate you chiming in, buddy.

I did several live in duplex flips with low downpayments in columbus at first. my buddy bought a 5 BR single family in the short north and rented it out to all of us for 2 years after that. best time of my life. either one works, i liked living in single family more. don't sacrifice on areas. make sure to get preapproved once you get a job locked down and see what you can get preapproved for.  

I've got two other buddies that are agents as well and they loved her.

Ill have a few of my buddies living with me in the 3br unit (We’re young & not picky about space right now) & I’ll rent out the upstairs.

Not only would our buddy not get the loan for us, but none of the lenders in the area wanted to loan us the money.We were pretty beat up about it, but fast-forward a few years and we ended up buying our current home at a great time and we got a terrific loan.  

If it's a great unit, you might find someone willing to sleep on a buddy's couch for 2 weeks in order to get the lease. 

Awesome buddy… You seem very intelligent and informed.

Cheers buddy

You said you paid pretty much the "customary" rate to your realtor buddy, after I pointed out you could take advantage of the vacant unit to market to FHA buyers for potentially more money.

The driving factors are scarcity, condition and the make/model.You don't say where you're from, but if you can find one of the decedent's trusted ham buddies, they'll likely help you to sell it at fair pricing.