.: @Karen MargraveGood to see you back here.When I was a midshipman a thousand years ago, we had accommodations similar to this, though our "micro-units house 2 or 3 cadets.  

A good broker should be able to tell you a range of rates given specific criteria if you can tell them what kind of deals you are exactly looking at (ex. in central Boston, 10-20 unit, 90%+ occupancy, 30% down).

Both of those websites charge the tenants more than $25 and we require all adults living in our units to pay and fill out an application. 

I guess I could do some work-arounds -- maybe reserve one unit in the first purchase for use as an AirBnb, and reserve my own time in it when needed - instead of claiming it as a primary.Are either of you (or anyone) familiar with a finance product/loan that will allow me to purchase under $150,000 (w/ strong credit) and do much of my own work and live-in a portion as a primary residence?  

Currently have a great job but want to start acquiring  2-4 unit complexes.

Quote from @Gregory Wilson:As for the second, there are only about 20 monetary numbers to be entered in Turbo Tax on a single unit rental property 1065 so it always seems to me that the $3500 would be better spent elsewhere.

I have a tenant in one of my units who has filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy.

However, driving rents higher will likely take a significant amount of cash to upgrade the units.  

Say, I have a potential client that has asked me to value a 7 unit apartment building.

I went from growing up in a hut in Vietnam and spending my early years in Section 8 housing in the U.S. to now owning four cash-flowing properties (8 units) across three states.