In general, yes you can make them responsible for indoor plumbing, electrical, fixtures, appliances, etc.

Wanting to have a business of our own and also to have cash flow to supplement our income and life style.

My lease states that any "guests" that stay for more than 7 days per 30 day period would need to be added to the lease (and obviously no smoking indoors).

I don;t know your life style but once I carefully reviewed my wants vs needs my finance started to head in the right direction. 

Usually you have the home style loans for a conventional lender, they take time to close though rates might be 5.5Then you have portfolio lenders usually local bank who can fund repairs and purchase.

Thinking of keeping it loft-style, big open spaces except for bedrooms and baths, trendy but low-cost finishes, hopefully 2 beds/1 bath per unit. 

as I belive some people are trying to avoid the hassle of furnituring style and overall cost but not sure if they are the majority in the market or not.

Multifamily falls out of style - Cap Rates inflate.Yes, there are baseline economic relationships, but there is a psychological component.

I interviewed a few property rentals out there and their work style isn't fast enough for me so I took things in my own hands and just managed it myself with 4 different units. 

I considered tile but (1) it’s expensive to demo once it’s out of style/favor with tenants, and (2) it’s more expensive (I think)We’re still open to it, but we’re going to try a thicker vinyl first and see how that goes.