What if this were a 36-year-old single mother? 

Look at other platforms such as Craigslist or FB.Also consider doing mother in law suite or ADU which is technically still single family but has benefits of duplex

She was against moving to a nursing home so all of us kids took turns taking her in and taking care of her.

We all moved into my mother-in-law's two-bedroom apartment where we stayed for four solid months.

We all moved into my mother-in-law's two-bedroom apartment where we stayed for four solid months.

The benefits of single family properties with separate entrances are the multiple strategies that you can employ.  1) If you and your wife want to maximize cash flow and make money while living there, rent by room is an great option.2) If you want to just have a steady tenant that covers 50-75% of your mortgage, you can live upstairs and rent out the downstairs to a separate tenant.3) If you want to not deal with tenants but want to maximize cash flow in spring and summer, furnish the basement apartment and Airbnb it for 6-8 months.4) Another option is to rent as a medium-term rental, it is between a long-term tenant and Airbnb for rental income, these types of tenants are travel nurses and corporate people usually on contract for a 3-6 months. 

Also, I lived in Tacoma for 5 months when I was a travel nurse in puyallup!

My Mother uses Fremont Insurance.

My mother thinks I have a real job!

Although I love getting my hands dirty I'm really focused on learning the ropes of remodeling and flipping as "the general" as the How to Invest book puts it haha I'm about to be a mother of two (due in May!)