Going into COVID, though, we were in a weaker position than before, with Treasury yields astonishingly low *even though* foreign central banks have been unloading UST's in favor of dollars and gold over the last half decade or so. 

If "I" were in your situation I would forgo using all of my cash for a duplex in favor of a 0% down deal!

Finding a larger place and renting for a while longer sounds perfectly fine IF you are serious about saving for a down payment (as you say above) that will allow you to buy a home on favorable terms available to owner-occupants.

The property isn't doing any of the surrounding ones any favors by only getting 61% of FMR.

My wife is not in favor of having contractors work on the rental during vacancies, doing showings during the Pandemic, so this suit us fine.

While there is no black-and-white safe harbor rule for your circumstances, I have a feeling that we could interpret these Regulations in your favor. 

Some owners pool a lot of assets under a large policy, so their premium may be much lower than yours, or vice versa.Additionally, with the supply/demand dynamics favoring sellers currently, you will see properties selling for what they can generate, not what they are generating.  

Once you have it furnished or decorated to your style, do yourself a HUGE favor and get professional photos taken.

But that longer time horizon can actually work in your favor.1.

If that's the case, you can get an experienced partner by agreeing to a profit split heavily in favor of the veteran investor.In exchange for a smaller profit, you get to shadow the investor throughout the entire process.