This is not uncommon as most small developers try to avoid involving the City in light renovation, but this seems to be more than light reno work.Is there a way to still make this deal work?

Okay, I think what has confused me is that the last LLC I had was also a 50/50 partnership in a (very) small business but we rented our property so it was an expense. 

Because it was in a small town, the city got wind of it and got involved and required me to get permits for everything and bring everything up to code.

I've heard the suggestion on several podcasts that a great way to get started would be to buy a small multifamily and live in one unit and rent the other units.

It seems like people are just hearing those terms and jumping on it .https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-18/fintech-mircocap-stock-jumps-2-400-after-touting-crypto-linkI am sure most of these companies won't be around forever but I dont think the technology will be going away especially with huge companies researching and implementing it .I was young during the dot com bubble but was following stocks and the market at the time and this feels very similar with these tokens surging so much in price .So far I've only invested a very small amount in ICO , the team seemed very legit and they already have an existing related legit business .Still trying to figure out token distribution and actually being able to trade on the crypto exchanges it's been interesting though .It's not a user friendly experience and there's lots of new terminology and words to learn and different random tools like wallets etc .. but that's kind of what makes it fun too .

Looking for people's experience with appraisers on small multi family properties (2-4 units).

You should also have been and continually shopping local smaller banks and CU's working with their commercial lender on something that works, if you have some cash saved, a decent job/income, and a good credit score, you should be able to get fix and flip loans fairly easily from a small bank.

I don't know how big your property is but I like this system for small properties.

Second, sometimes you get weird things where Zillow pulls the *total* sq ft of a small apartment building for the rent estimate instead of just the unit.

Asking $1300 with a small pet.