I don't care either way as I think he intends on staying for a while but even if he left, the unit is very nice and he's very very neat so it would rent for the same price in a minute. 

Remove hardware first and be careful not to do a bad job.  

But is it possible to purchase a multiplex, maybe 4 units, maybe less, live in it, but also hire a property manager to take care of renting and tenant care.

Typically Portfolio Lenders have a little bit more relaxed guidelines and care more about the feasibility of the project and potential rent assignments than the borrower.

Thanks Tom, both the post here and the prior post are helpful and directly answer my question.Turns and maintenance are less of an issue than management for me.  

REI is great, but hopefully there's someone left to care for our ailing bodies:)

You could be tip toeing on discrimination on people count so be careful.

All you should be calling your house is a rental, who you rent to is irrelevant to the policy, you could say it's for retirees, but legally it's just a rental and anyone can rent it.You also need to be careful in your tenant selection process trying to weed out the public to provide housing for only students.

I have also been looking into the benefits of an LLC vs. liability insurance.

We absolutely love Austin and we feel like the opportunities in real estate, if done carefully and correctly, could be pretty lucrative (not to mention fun).We're contemplating downsizing our current home and using a large portion of the profits to start investing.