This is going to keep your bid honest, rather than lazier and keep your cash position stronger. 4) The only time you spend in this, is finding & closing on the quality assets and playing devil's advocates for repair/rehab/fixing costs.

Others noted that the appreciation play could make it worth keeping, I tend to look more heavily on appreciation since real estate investing is more of a long term game.

A 4-plex would be ideal and you could play around with doing 1 long-term, 1 mid-term, and 1 short-term, plus you, if it works on your area to upgrade your income.

If it's a long-term play, the potential savings on PMI with a conventional loan could be significant.Have you compared rates for both options?

Maybe talk to the city and see what the process is.Now of course you don't know how things are going to play out.

Redeveloping into mixed use live/work/play projects has been the most common proposed solution the past few years in my area. 

Yup this is right out of the Sub Too guys play book. 

When you go to sell, Montvale requires a certificate of occupancy so this issue has to be resolved in advance of a sale.Although I am not a lender, I assume you will not be approved for an owner-occupied mortgage on 5-units if it is a legal 4-unit without some type of mortgage fraud whether in reported rents, units, or another legal document or representation (very very large issue from a legal perspective with multiple arrests in the last year for anyone playing fast and loose).As far as the DCA, I would recommend coordinating your work with the city with the DCA.

It’s stable cashflow and long term appreciation and tons of accelerated bonus depreciation on taxes. like most anything in real estate it’s a long term play. 

You aren't going to find a legitimate property management company who will have someone sign off on this radical new law.I've had several property management company owners reach out to me about this law, not one of them is going to comply with it.