I’ll echo to reinforce the previous posts that house hacking is great, duplexes are great, lots of options.

For income, I'd do this even at the cost of having to reinforce the garage walls and/or foundation;  3rd build a new 2 story multi-unit structure for yourselves behind the existing garage so as to maximize rental income from the extra unit(s).  

Refinished the hardwood floors upstairs and downstairs, installed groutable vinyl tile in first floor kitchen and shared hallway, new cabinets, faucet, sink, and stove in first floor kitchen, repainted entire interior, reinforced upstairs porch, replaced some support joists for upstairs porch, painted both porch floors, built new upstairs porch railing, installed new vanity, medicine cabinet, and toilet in first floor bathroom.

For the larger audience, I can't reinforce enough that the inspection is a must!

Separating the meter is something I will be looking into.We plan on renovating the basement since it needs a good remodel to be able to rent it out at top value and we're hoping it will appraise more than $378,000 at that point since there will be more upgrades throughout the house (we're updating the electrical, plumbing, reinforcing the basement walls, adding an egress window, adding support to the roof, updating the small kitchenette, bathroom, and cosmetics of basement). 

.- A final touch, this one could be another post card, a short yellow letter or a 1 page white letter.The idea is to provide a simple initial message, expand on that message and then reinforce the urgency of the message.

Not only do I have a clause in the lease, I have a separate two page personal guarantee that reinforces the fact that it is an unconditional guarantee. 

So hearing all of this reinforces to me the importance of waking up early to be successful.

If I'm interpreting that correctly I believe it's reinforcing a lot of what I've been reading.

You’re only reinforcing what I know I need to do.