Taxes 10k HOA is 9k The current owner never did short-term rentals.

but if i go in a LLC with them i get hit with the tax from the sale of the homeThe GC and the flipper were just going to split the profits from the sale of the home and they were going to pay me 2%/12% for the duration of the build. 

You might consider: Consulting a Real Estate Attorney – Your emails may possibly prove misrepresentation.Requesting Public Records – A FOIA request might reveal why the city denied you but later approved the duplex.Escalating to City Officials – Bringing this to local officials could expose inconsistencies.Exploring Tax Write-Offs – A CPA might help offset your financial loss, if it is possible.I’d definitely seek legal advice.

Most of my renters are nurses, engineers, and tax payer funded employees (Government workers). 

It's a primarily a utility asset, and secondarily a store of value against currency. 

@Dalton Foote I have had tremendous success using direct mail and mailing the owner of record where the tax bills get mailed to.Generally, property management companies don’t pay the real estate taxes so this gets me right to the owner.Targeting wise, I would just do a zip code filtered by unit count using a service like listsource.  

There will be no assessment for increase in taxes or insurance so remains at $1935.

I understand I wouldn't get the benefit of tax deductions, but what else am I missing that makes this a good deal? 

These typically include services like renters insurance, HVAC filter delivery, pest control, and sometimes utility management.

Imagine making millions of dollars over the course of your career and then having to pay 30-50% every year to uncle sam instead of compounding that cash over time.This is exactly what real estate professionals have learned to mitigate.To reduce their taxable income, they just buy a building every year, do a cost seg, and use depreciation to reduce their tax liability dramatically.Their personal wealth snowball grows much larger and much faster than their W2 counterparts who give most of their money back to the government each year.Following this strategy as a real estate professional is one of best ways to end up with a much larger net worth at the end of your career.