We have sold (tax free), kept as long term and/or short term rentals as well.

They were taxing as a fourplex, but the CO said it was a triplex.I found out when I went to try to refi with the bank.

You'll want to put together a personal financial statement (basically lists of all your assets and liabilities) and have your tax returns ready.

We were initially looking out of state for a potential move and or investment property just because the property taxes without being able to homestead, plus high cost of insurance, and harsh weather on homes made me feel like it might not be worth it.

Who covers the tax bill when they don't pay the tax bill or the insurance? 

When you live in that duplex for 2 years and then sell you'll be able to take 50% of the profit tax free (the allocation for the side you lived in). 

I pay $875 (including principal, interest, taxes, and insurance) and rent it out for $1,625.

Plus with no state income tax, cheap insurance, and very low property taxes, I’m probably starting $20k ahead of most people, and that’s a tax free $20k.).

I also wanted to benefit from tax saving before the years end with a new property purchase.

I agree with the others here that say you need to have some skin in the game, if you are going to live there yourself, get an FHA loan rather than owner financing, you can get a 3.5% down loan, personally I do not love these as they require  PMI which is an additional expense, and you also need  bring additional funds for closing at least for taxes, title, attorney and transfer fees . borrowing from anyone else for the down payment, to include a personal loan from the bank is not a good idea, those again will be higher int. rate.