Each CPA will answer the questions uniquely based on their interpretation of the tax law as well as your specific scenario, so I highly recommend having a trusted CPA answer this for you.

When we moved our companies to a new accounting software we looked at Quickbooks, but found its international awareness (tax rules, multi-currency, locale support, etc), project/job, and multi-company abilities to be clunky.To be fair, none of the candidates hit everything on our wishlist.We ended-up selecting MoneyWorks by Cognito and have been satisfied with it over the past three years.

Based on what you shared you are not financially qualified to own real estate.

It would likely be comparable to what you pay in the NE.Just google "Lexington County tax estimator" or whatever county you're interested in and you'll usually find a web tool from the County you can use to estimate the tax bill based on the previous year's assessments.There is also a law called the ATI tax exemption that can potentially lower than 6% rate by 25%.

Based on our preliminary plans we should be able to relatively easily convert the basement into a 3rd unit or just rent the 1st floor as a duplex down 4bd.

Since you know what you need to buy it at and an average rehab cost, I would say $50-70k for a cosmetic flip, set the ARV based on the sample you choose and doing comps and ask them if they would invest in a deal similar to this. 

Prices a few years ago were based on expectations of (in addition to interest rates staying low): - Then current operating cost assumptions (like insurance cost expectations being flat)- A seeming disregard for record levels of new inventory / supply hitting the market- Extremely high inbound migration expectations which are likely to not be met, due to both natural disasters and the boomerang effect when people from California or the Northeast move to the American South and hate every minute of the humidity, the large and relentless swarm of insects, and the occasional hurricane. 

I suspect there could be some truth behind Melanies claims based on that thread..

In high-cost markets like Chicago, that can be tough to meet.If you're looking at a duplex, the self-sufficiency test doesn’t apply, so you’d just need to qualify based on your personal income and the rental income your lender allows.If your current lender isn’t familiar with making FHA work in your situation, it might be worth getting a second opinion from someone experienced with FHA multi-unit financing.

This is the foundation of why LaPlante Real Estate is based in portfolio management and property management... my personal portfolio started in 2009 and I find the majority tends to be Section 8.