The gentleman would like to sell each property individually. i was attempting to get both under one contract ... but that’s a wash regardless if i cannot find suitable financing.

It might not matter now as you live in one unit (I assume) but down the line when you rent both units and need to get 2 rental suitabilities it might be a problem if zoning is not suitable for multifamily.

And in a college town, students leave for 3 months so, yeah, you're visitor base might fizzle to nothing.

I am converting a church into a SFR and the septic is not suitable.

Visit or have your agent take a look at the property, you dont want to get stuck with an asset that is not in the condition that you originally wanted to invest in. 

However, its becoming increasingly difficult to find suitable B&H properties in my local area, I don't really need the cash.

Then negotiations etc - too easy to run out of time when lists are often only published a month or so before the sale, so as I said, not suitable for me (I'm not in CA!).

Native New Yorker, extended visitor to Colorado by way of Florida here :) I happened upon this forum as I was doing research on Real Estate Investing and how the whole thing works.

In any event, it's never fun but I you should be fine if you have your rental license, rental suitability cert, missed rent payments, and documented Damages in order.

Real estate is not a suitable vehicle to park cash if your goal is to generate maximum returns.