If the units are inhabitable now, rent them out and focus on cutting costs.

Every county in America has either trustee sales or sherrifs sales .. its how defaulted mortgages or trust deeds worked through the system. but as you said.. its a loooong game buying courthouses steps you have to follow literally 50 to find one.. pretty difficult for civilians to do this with out deep contacts at title and escrow companies or the ability to do their own title research.and when you get into PA like this person its pretty confusing.. and the rules seem to change from county to county and city to city..

While it was an incredible and priceless experience, I believed I would be happier on the civilian side of things. 

making your unit only inhabitable by the owner. 

I am not sure about a civilian school. 

This program is a non agency, 20% downpayment and min loan amount $50,000 (hopefully a banker will take that small loan) and properties have to be inhabitable, no distressed properties.

I question if a "civilian" such as myself can get into this business part time?   

Are the properties you are looking at inhabitable (even if they are not somewhere you personally would inhabit, would they qualify for a conventional loan?)

Basically any duplex that is inhabitable has been getting snatched off the MLS for a premium. 

Both have their pros/cons.The journal Square area is good and you can get into NYC in under 25 minutes.I think the area has already experienced significant price increases over the past couple of years.Live-in-flip is good cause you are looking at a property that needs to be fixed up which can translate to a cheaper cost compared to a house in excellent shape.You are also eligible to exclude a portion of all of the capital gain if you live in it for 2 years and then sell.You would need to keep track of all the repairs/improvements you make to the house.A con would be is that the house has to be in habitable condition prior to purchase otherwise a bank won't loan on it.