A friend told me that insurance rates on apartments are much higher than on a duplex or sfh. 

For up to 12 months, and in some cases longer, life insurance companies can provide a firm commitment to borrowers that today’s interest rate will be the interest rate when they close, barring any substantial changes to the property and its economics.

Don't know what your taxes are, but assume insurance at $50/mo. 

If you already own the home you live in, then you can only use a FHA loan for a new property if you:1. are moving because of a work-related transfer2. an increase in family size requires a larger homedirect quote:“FHA will not insure more than one Property as a Principal Residence for any Borrower, except as noted below.

It has been explained to me that this ultimately is an insurance issue that provides a clear path for settlement for the person harmed. 

I ran the numbers on my own and I got wildly different calculations.4 units are 2bd/1bth and rent for $5501 unit is 3 bd/2bth and rents for $675Total rents of $2875Owner pays some utilities at a cost of $8,800/ yearHere's what I got running it with the BP Rental Calculator (as self-managed):-Purchase price of $250,000 (I did estimate of $300k ARV price)-25% down: $62,500-Amount financed: $187,500-4.5% interest: P&I of $1,042.19-Capex: 7%: $201.25/mo-Maintenance/repairs: 7%: $201.25/mo-Vacancy 5%: $143.75/mo-Property taxes: $191.67/mo-Utilities: about $733.33 mo-Insurance: $220/moNOI of $14,209Income $2,875.00 - total monthly expenses (including debt service) $2,733.10 = $141.90/mo cash flow and 2.64% COC with a purchase cap rate of 5.68%.I told her I must be missing something, and she asked if I “had the NOI at $21,662?”

The PM maintains a list of vendors who they vet and must ensure the vendors are compliant with their operating standards such as having a Certificate of Insurance naming the PM as an additional insured, receive invoices from said vendors, pay vendors, checks vendor work (in some cases) and ensure the invoice is appropriately accounted for in the asset/owners account.  

Got financing in place with a hard-money lender, hooked up with a bunch of wholesalers, realtors, contractors, escrow and insurance. 

I need a good insurance broker to insure a vacation rental. 

Residential class is just a lot easier to do the financing and the insuring, and you're not getting much more scale at 6 units.The downside is that you won't be able to directly capture any forced-appreciation on residential class (4 units and below.)