I have several family members and some long time customers who have assets in the 7 to 8 figure range who may come into play down the road for private money.

The biggest problem with not doing VA or USDA is the down payment being little to none and therefore having PMI or equivalent to deal with.

I am lucky enough to be backed by 5 private investors who collectively will provide up to $2m to get me started, and have a pretty high appetite for risk (so I can use leverage).

Probably the biggest thing was that I partnered with a contractor who had a different vision for the property than I did.It was an old duplex that he envisioned as being sold only to an investor and he wanted to finish it with low-mid grade finishes (formica, wall-wall carpet, clean up the old gas stoves, etc). 

Keep in mind that BIG component is your depreciation - which could easily be the biggest "expense" for your rental.

I am exploring other options of partnering & owner financing through a private cash buyer, etc. but my goal here would be to use the equity I have in my single family to purchase an owner occupied multi. 

This way they could carry the note for a short time, and then get a balloon; In a sense, they would kind of be like a private lender, getting interest only payments, until the refinance occurs. 

How will you be paying your private lenders since there will be no rent collected?  

You can't magically buy something at a 9 cap and then recapitalize with private investors at a 7 cap.

It took me 6 months to build my private practice.