If he goes (or I go) and we determine the job is to big for him (or I) to handle, then we call out a service guy and materials and labor is charged.

We generally reward them by continuing to just give them more and more jobs.

It is perfectly legal to operate as a duplex because it is the same concept as renting out by rooms.

Check out of the property and have your cleaning team do their job.

As a middle school teacher with a full-time job, how can I effectively manage my time and efforts to delve into real estate investing?

This is what makes a loan officers job difficult -- estimating the third party fees from the beginning (they will get actual costs once in process).Hope this helps!

The job has to be permitted and inspected by the city/county inspector, so the short answer is "YES." 

Thanks everyone for the feedback - my understanding is renegotiating the price again after due diligence is considered re-trading and is frowned upon - at least in Multifamily which is why I was trying to avoid it, but for this deal I’m being forced to operate that way.

I own and operate one currently and I'm still able to cashflow with my crazy 7.8% interest rate.

Unless there is a firm job offer at the other side of my military obligation, paying down a mortgage is not a good use of my funds because I can’t access that money again.