It's a very popular model here and it would be very close to your work downtown.

There are some very popular towns but not sure how to evaluate them against each other as I am only able to find data out there for larger cities.

I am wondering if popular opinion would be to pay the 10k so that we are no longer having to pay PMI...Thanks in advance!

The middle ground 6% to 8% seems to be popular.   

I've suggested vendor financing but it's not very popular here and a rare occurrence what other suggestions can you make to finance the property.  

In essence this becomes a popularity poll question...would you rather house hack or invest out of state...BOTH can make you a lot of money. 

I know AIRBNB is popular here which is another option. 

Some very popular markets have stagnant or declining populations and virtually no job growth but they are popular because they are cheap.

probably not the most popular opinion but my personal belief is that saving the 20% is a waste of time. if it takes you a year to save up that much money the market could go up, interest rates could go up, you're missing out on tax breaks and the reality is you're going to be living in one side of the duplex and renting the other one out to cover 80% + of your mortgage.... kind of a no brainer in my eyes but everyone has their reasons.... if the numbers work, I don't worry about PMI

There are plenty of multifamily-based books and people have varying opinions on which ones are the best, so just find a couple popular ones and start with those.