The only thing that sounds out of the ordinary here is the water bill

I am the real estate professional and I worked with hard money lender This sounds like the exact same strategy a client of mind uses in Kansas City!

That duplex sounds like it has some potential, especially with your plan to live in one side and rent out the other—that’s a solid strategy.

Doesn't sound like it would be too difficult to get funded.

It sounds like you are investigating the DSCR route due to lack of investment funds. 

@Mike Terry sounds like a pretty good argument to go after the property, I think your question is more along how to value it, and account for the deferred maintenance. 

You state the numerator is “units in the area” but that sounds like existing units, which is what’s calculated in Step 2.

Low or no down, seller financing and low or no interest with a balloon payment later is the holy grail (location, building condition, market also matter but it sounds like you have all that).

I'm thinking of doing a loan with them but it sounds too good to be true and you know what they say about that. 

Ryan, renting a place in PR to learn the market better sounds like a good idea.