I think most people are reading into the scenario a bit too much... we're not looking for luxury and lots of sq footage, American entitlement, etc, but a bit more practicality would be significant. 

Also - how do you compare the price between a sfh and a duplex with the same square footage, and finishes in the same neighborhood?

I’m wondering what the difference is going to be for the electric bill, assuming the same sq footage.

How does one compare the price between a sfh and a duplex with the same square footage, and finishes in the same neighborhood?

As a side note we've looked into multifamily houses, but with a family of 5 it's hard to find one with the 3-4 bedrooms and enough square footage to be comfortable. 

They have different sizes including: 2/2, 3/2 and 3/3 with various square footages that range from about $300,000-$400,000.

Find houses that look the same, same square footage and beds/baths.

They do zero analysis and just plug the square footage, income and expenses into a software program that spits out a number.

I would go line by line through each property to make sure they made the adjustments property (like condition, the garage you mentioned, etc).It's my understanding that the appraisers can only count legal sq footage, bedrooms, baths, etc.

The studio is off Main Street with a sq footage of 466.