I have under the table work that pays great, but it is more less temporary.

I purchased a duplex at a shore town in NJ.

There are some pretty good products out there available for investments, where you can do seller paid temporary rate buydowns.

Instead of relying on anecdotal evidence with your horror story, perhaps do some honest analysis instead.The vast majority of the time a tenant like this will catch up, if the shortfall was caused by a verifiable and temporary issue.

Good luck, and try to remember they're all temporary problems :) 

I'm currently a H1B visa (Temporary Worker) holder working full time in the states, trying to start my real estate investment.

I would personally rent if it is temporary so you don't mix a personal and investment decisions.

Not all investors share the same goal.If it's strictly positive cash flow, you're going to have a tough time meeting that goal while living in one of the units these days in Belmont Shore.Under the current economic decisions, if you're going to live in one of the units, a more realistic goal might be to subsidize your mortgage with the other two incomes to bring your mortgage payment down, build equity, ride the market appreciation, force some appreciation of your own, refinance when rates are in your favor to crush the mortgage payment down, and keep positive cash flow for a long-term goal.Belmont Shore is a nice area where homes hold their value well and enjoy good appreciation as well as strong rents and in general, the type of renters landlords are looking for.Belmont Shore is also a good area for short-term rentals and you may want to consider renting one unit as an LTR and the other as an STR.Ultimately, your situation is going to dictate whether this triplex is a good investment for you and your husband but as a Long Beach resident, I know that Belmont Shore is an area that people aspire to buy a home in.

As far as location’s you will more or less be limited to D.C. and frankly not great areas in the city, there are pockets of Maryland that have them, mainly some parts of Baltimore, a few parts of Baltimore county, Takoma park, Hagerstown & a few parts of the eastern shore but the vast vast majority will be in D.C. 

. :)  At the very moment (likely through next week) i'm on a temporary lending freeze, likely just through the end of May, then back to business after that. :)