You can do FHA with 3.5% down- less in some states with down payment assistance, but you're better off doing a conventional at 5% down if you can swing it. 

FHA-Owner Occupancy Loan, to limit down payment to be able to utilize for maintenance

If each property costs $250,000 and the only acquisition cost is a 25% down payment, how much savings would you need?

The minimum down payment for a property in this price range would be roughly $27K.That said, you also need to account for bank closing costs, inspection costs, appraisal, attorney fee, and title costs.Your scenario may require a seller's concession to account for these additional expenses.Investing with $50K is totally possible in this market but your journey may be met by challenges i.e.

The note investor who thought that even after he sold the note he was still entitled to collect the monthly note payments. 2.

@Drew Sygit, Last November Fannie Mae began accepting 5% down payments for owner-occupied 2-, 3-, and 4-unit homes.

But 3) Try multifamily specific brokers, crexi and loopnet, although 2-4 units maybe scarce. 4) A home equity line of credit is a good source of funds however it will generally make your overall monthly payments higher, so unless a deal is very solidly cashflowing, a HELOC may put you into negative cashflow. 7) Typically electric/gas are paid by the tenant - however this isn't true across the board. 

Living in one unit and renting out the other helps you scale quickly because you need a lower down payment for a primary residence. 

They also take more work, are more stressful, require you to be on the hook for a monthly payment and scary amount of debt, and are hard to pull off.

As with any insurance you need to weigh the cost of doing the repair yourself vs the cost of the premium payments.