My focus is on affordable housing, especially mixed-use projects that serve both residential and community needs.

Purchase price: $250,000 Cash invested: $50,000 Primary house hack.

The one negative is with multiple tenants in a house is potential for conflict among each other but could be reduced by screening all of them well. 

Seller has decided to walk with our EM and put the house back on the market.

Quote from @Andrea Lucarelli: I’m interested in beginning my REI career with purchasing a SFH or condo in Cleveland area (safe neighborhood) to list as a furnished rental for travel medical professionals, supply corporate housing needs, or house temporarily displaced families for insurance companies.  

If so, you may be able to wholesale the property to someone (perhaps even someone in one of those $400,000 houses) in such a way that you and your grandmother come out whole.

Use the two years to learn the area and I would suggest as soon as you can, find a duplex and start a house hack. 

If you treat the renter (resident) well, provide a well-kept home that you service regularly, and stay on top of any maintenance issues, a resident will likely remain in the house for many years. 

It's a 3 bedroom house and we plan to use technology such as a smart lock, WIFI exterior cameras, and a smart thermostat.

But do all the other houses in the subdivision have stained fences?