Pro - Someone else does the work for you.Con - You have to pay someone else to do the work for you.

How do you pay for the tax and insurance?

However, with the rates and conditions of any triplexes and fourplexes we could find (we did find one, but it's in the Pendleton Heights suburb of KCMO, so we were worried about it being too dangerous of an area), we were wondering if it's worth it to buy a duplex and rent out the other half to help pay the mortgage, or if it's more worthwhile to rent an apartment and try to save up to buy a residential or commercial MFH later?

You get what you pay for with a bigger firm that is cheaper.

The long term (since 2000) appreciation for chicago is 3.35%/year.  3.35 * (10/6) = 5.58% return from appreciation.Total return: 5.58% (appreeciation including the leerage) + 2% (cash flow)= 8.58% + equity pay down + tax benefits.I fear your total return does not justify the effort and risk of residential RE.San Diego is a good market for long holds.

So they are good paying retail.. we had 5 to 7 offers on each project .

When you borrow money you agree to pay it back.

Of course the solo would also pay the notes.

So I was paying under the market rent to live in the property, then moved out and rented my unit and it’s cash flow positive.

The reason I say this is that with a 5+ unit a lender will evaluate based on NOI and a cap rate, so adding a 5th unit COULD (or could not) substantially increase the value of the building and make it worthwhile to refinance and pay off the existing loan (that is tied to the "old" quad) anyway.