Welcome to BP @Jenny Davis& @Trey Watson that is absolutely GOLDEN advice I believe!

If you keep your day time job you should be golden and count a portion of the rents towards your DTI ratios.  

I want investments that allow me time to enjoy all the gr8 things life has to offer, and I believe real estate is golden..

Golden insight!

Seems perfectly doable and after looking around in south FL I have gathered most people are already into it.The simplest house hacking method is to buy a property with 2-4 units, live in one and rent the others.Up to 4 units is still considered a non-commercial property.This let's you put down 20% on conventional loans and 3.5% on FHA loans.That's the golden ticket for house hacking.Buy a 4 unit using 3.5% down, live in one (cheapest one), rent the other 3.

My husband and I are both engineers and we're looking to test the waters of real estate investing by buying a house/duplex to rent here in the Golden/Arvada area.

The Golden Rule still applies...

They do not have a large nest egg in my opinion to set them up like they need in their golden years so trying to help how I can.  

I didn't realize that Freddie mac type loans can be issued for multifamily properties where there are repairs needed and can be included with the purchase.If I can get some sort of forbearance for the first few months during the renovation ill be golden!

If you can find deals to flip here, you're golden since the profit is huge.