So I want to sell And.use my half of the proceeds to buy a home for myself and give the half to the other person.

Assume half goes to expenses and half goes to mortgage paydown and profit.

I am also curious why you are looking to manage the property yourself just for the second half of the year and THEN hand it off?  

Economics is still half art and half science at this point.I was just in a similar situation with a condo I owned, basically lost money with maintenance costs but had been appreciating like crazy.Sold it and did a 1031 and it covered most of the 25% down payment on a 4 Plex that should cash flow very well after the renovation.I view this a good on all fronts, just plain business sense and if inflation does happen I have way more exposure for it to be an advantage for me by having 4 units with rents that can go up and a larger asset that can appreciate.

You are only allowed to expense realistic business expenses for the half of the duplex you are not living in.

@Sahil ParmarI will just say I have not seen a single enticing property in the whole upper half of this state.

The more tools in your tool belt the more opportunities you will have.If you are dead set on fix and flip but have funding issues AND issues finding a good deal there's an easy fix:Step 1:) spend half your time getting in with local investors that are also interested in fix and flipStep 2:) spend the other half of your time getting in good with local wholesalersNotice I didn't say spend any time looking at houses?

If tenant #1 (the grad student) should leave before the end of the lease, isn't he still on the hook for the entire rent (assuming the second tenant either stops paying or only pays his half)?

They got to use it for half the cost of buying and a good return.

Looking for feedback on an idea - I have an opportunity to purchase a half acre of land wayyy below market value and I have this vision of a purpose built vacation rental setup that I would like to build.