This would help save me some money to use on the house that is getting renovated and I wouldn't have any money out of my pocket up front for the duplex except when the mortgage starts.

I tried to get the owner of three of the houses to carry a short note but no dice.

I’m no longer house hacking, and all three units are rented out, generating a total of $8,200/month in rental income.

@Franklin Marquette Welcome to the Bigger Pockets community. 

Even if someone in these forums were to teach you a creative financing strategy that required zero out of pocket cash and the seller was willing to accept those deal terms, you still aren’t qualified to own real estate with your current balance sheet.

If the tenant is claiming to be living in a hotel, she may try to get you to reimburse for that cost unless section 8 has a new process to reimburse them for this... which sounds absurd but I'll let you deduce whether or not you're dealing with someone who is used to paying for things out of their own pocket. 

Now, three things can happen. 

You are off to a good start being on Bigger Pockets.

The Long Distance Real Estate Investing book by Bigger Pockets is gold!

Hello I have been watching a lot of bigger pockets podcasts.