However, I made the decision when interest rate was lower and there was support for an appreciating real estate market.

. -- Thus, you can expect to get Class C or D tenants, which have a 15-25% probability of defaulting on their lease payments.2) If your PMC is lowering FICO to 550, what are they doing to improve their screening in other areas?

They get a higher return since they are covering housing cost, have the $250k per spouse primary residence deduction in gains, is a savings account, higher leverage position, lower interest rate possible, will pay more premium for location, etc.House might be overpriced for REITs but not for home owners.  

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?

This was my first deal, and house hacking made the most sense because it lowered the threshold for risk in my mind.

Would you rather maintain a higher price for 4-8 weeks and look for a premium or would you rent it quicker with a lower price? 

In this case, you can use Rental Income from the units that you will not be living in and that income can count to help you qualify.FHA rates are going to be lower than conventional for you almost always, but FHA does have a 1.75% funding fee. 

But as far monthly payment you could easily buy a house in a cheaper location have less roommates and the same monthly payment or the same number of roommates and a lower monthly payment.

Sherman does seem interesting though because of the lower cost and growth potential.  

Right now they are "high" (compared to 2020) and people "think" they are going lower.