Prices are far lower there “relatively” speaking due to low demand.  

I'd bet that this note is worth more to you than to most buyers until the note is much lower LTV, but I'm a novice in this space.

Are they going to start paying down that credit card debt, turn over a new leaf, and avoid bankruptcy for the next decade? 

This encourages them to start their search now and (hopefully) leave early so you can turn the unit around and find new tenants sooner. 

Potentially lower down needed of 15% with better rate and 6% cap in IPC’s

I've had them long enough to keep pushing up rents so that I am at the top of my niche, but know not to exceed it because I'm just about at the point where if I raised rents another $50-$100 I'd be crossing over into the lower end for larger units.

They sell a 4 unit for close to 1 million dollars close to Jacksonville. they want 250k or 300k down. there's no upside. you can google the properties on biggerpockets and there isn't a lot of satisfaction. it's a slow return and get rich slow strategy. our focus is always as a builder to add maximum value, lower cost as low as possible, build and rent and build and sell the same product and raise prices to help investors out. we have a large market share and large purchasing power in our market in columbus ohio. the one strategy I never liked about turnkey new build brokerage companies like them and build2rent or others is they don't really build close to urban centers and most are single family homes. the numbers don't work on single family homes. if single family was the way to go more companies would be doing it. but by far the most common type of new construction built is three story walk up apartments.

I really wanted to try finding a duplex that i could immediately rent out the lower half rather then buy a SFH and have a higher mortgage overallHow did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

You could also get a line of credit for about $150k (you should be able to borrow 75% of the value.)The reason I suggest this is…1) you save $40-$60k in selling costs. 2) you have a lower blended interest rate (2/3rds at 3.25% and 1/3rd at 7 or 8% instead of the whole $500k at 7 or 8%) saving you another $1k/mo in interest. 3) you only pay interest on that $150k when you actually use it, not from day 1  Unless you hate this property, or want to buy something you can’t afford without selling, that would be my plan.

I have been reading the online resources about getting started, searching the market, and even doing tours, but I am hesitant to jump in and buy a house as I have quite a large amount of student debt.