I am an active duty Navy and have experience in buy and hold rental, multifamily syndications and under writing.

You should still buy an owner occupant in your local market always though to use the low money down loans and interest write offs.

Are you creating a partnership, is it a loan, etc   If you don't have an agreement you should sit down and discuss it and put it in writing. 

This also allows for property owners to more easily write-off assets that get damaged/destroyed as the value of these assets is determined as part of the study.

In fact, some insurance companies now refuse to write new policies in these regions.

The reality is the opposite - if it's not in writing then the PMC doesn't have to provide the service or can charge extra for it!

Do I have to complete the separation of units by January 1st to write off half of my closing costs/other expenses?

@Josh Milewski Yeah, or ask the landlord to be up front with the tenant.....or something else - like have the landlord tell the renters that he was having an agent stop by to write up a BPO - which is different than having a prospective buyer come snooping around.

The reality is the opposite - if it's not in writing then the PMC doesn't have to provide the service or can charge extra for it!

I'd probably need a more specific question, just because you mentioned a lot of things in the post, and I wouldn't know where to start without having to write paragraphs and paragraphs.