I work full time on the commercial side, consulting role, but also have my license and do part time residential work. 

You know how hot rentals are in SD so you won't have a problem renting.

Discussions like this one usually come from politicians on two different sides arguing over which is better, more or less government regulation.

I was about 5 days from closing on my first place (an up/down duplex + cottage)...when the lenders (a typical residential / investment lender) said he would not fund the transaction...because the appraisal came back saying that it was a "raised mobile home" - and they don't fund mobile homes.It wasn't obvious that this was a mobile home by sight - apparently it was just the foundation of the mobile home that was used and then was re-finished (new siding, new roof, etc).  

If so and the test comes back hot, the state will then be involved... regulatory issues galore.

I know tons of investors gravitate towards the northwest side of Milwaukee, and the cash flow numbers on single families always look great.Good luck!

It's on the west side near Harrison and Montana.

So you are saying that it is possible to buy a duplex with a FHA mortgage, start living in one side and renting the other and have something in place to greatly limit the risk? 

Blown-in has advantages but won't touch noisy pipes or creaky floors or loose siding.

Credit card debt is around $4k and we have one car payed off and one with about $10K remaining on the loan.We make enough to make the minimum payments on everything and have maybe an additional $1.5K a month.A lot of the suggestions in the student loan posts were to move into a duplex and rent the other side out.