Regardless of how someone is going to invest, if they are not willing to be patient and spend some time learning how each way will benefit them and which one fits their needs the best, then under the mattress may be the safest bet! 

If the other units can pay for some or all of your living expense then I would consider it a big win - especially at your age!

With all the capital trying to get into multifamily right now, your best bet is to pick markets with the best fundamentals (population growth, job growth, schools, infrastructure, etc.)

All in all, it's a win win, as I pay less rent, help them with the mortgage, and at the end of the day, we'll turn around and rent this house out, I'll just need to come up with the half I owe.

Your best bet is simply to find an area where jobs and population are growing.

Assuming your hard money lender wont offer the rehab budget with the loan (which might not be the best option anyways), a decent option (if your business has been around long enough) might be to try and qualify for 6-12 month interest free business credit cards, which could be a short term solution, however if you have some property with equity, in my opinion a HELOC would probably be your best bet.  

Sounds like a win! 

I could still account for this, but it just throws a lot of extra unknown into an ARV estimate.SO... should I pursue slightly more creative financing to make a winning offer and pursue this in earnest?

The point is, if you believe that 'hyper inflation' is around the corner then your best bet is to short the US Dollar. 

The property was listed below ARV and sold as-is, therefore I think this would be a win-win situation.