Hey everybody I just want to get some perspective of some people from the St.Louis area.

Those things are fine.We have a steep staircase in the unit, I really want them to get  a child safety gate for it, but I know that's out of our reach from an enforcement perspective (also, don't want to be liable for a faulty gate, etc.). 

I don't intend to brag--just providing the contractor's perspective. 

In this case, I would have enough debt to income to support the personal loans and second mortgage from a banks perspective.

Sometimes people have different perspectives and see opportunity to add value or make money on a deal.

I do appreciate your feedback though as it is always good to get someone else's perspective on things.

I finance these types of projects and from my perspective I do think this transaction is too small and the LTV is not strong enough for a non-recourse loan especially with a construction component.One of the strengths is that you will be occupying a majority of the space so the project will be considered owner-occupied.

It's not necessarily that others do not qualify, we have a lot of qualified perspective tenants, it's that we only have 1 property (1 house) to rent to them.

Obviously the duplex makes a lot of sense from an investment perspective, but it would probably not be as preferred as a SFH primary residence.

What are some of the pointers from a tax and expenses perspective to consider for a married couple that is going to buy a 2 family, with the intention to owner occupy one unit, and build a portfolio over time?