We ended up opting for a heloc but two months later converted the duplex to an str. 

Some alternatives that I have considered is purchasing a single-family home, living in it for a year as a primary and then moving and renting it out, or looking for a single-family home with a decent-sized basement and converting that into a unit.

The STR's here are primarily second homes that out of staters have converted over after realizing the returns they could get.

I was looking to have it convert to a long-term mortgage and eventually cash out refinance to build a second duplex once enough equity built up 

You can plan to convert to a LTR as a backup or if you’re starting out only buy where you’d ultimately want and could afford to maintain as your personal vacation home if needed. 

I'm considering renovating part of the basement to add another unit, effectively converting it to a 5 unit building.

CCIM, SIOR, and all of the other designations you can amass never teach you how to pick up the phone and prospect for leads, track down growing/expanding businesses to convert to clients, how to manage tenants in a retail strip center, or do the myriad of other daily activities required to be a good commercial investment broker/owner.

If their lease term expired, then they are automatically converted to a month-to-month lease and you can give them 30 days notice.I recommend you study the market to determine an accurate rent rate.

One of our previous neighbours sold 2 of their apartments, as well as a newly converted attic room that was made into a one-bedroom studio.

I’d love to hear if your biggest home runs have been from: a) buying an existing STR, tweaking it with your own unique skill set and applying your experience-proven enhancements to be a top performing property, orb) converting a previously non-rental property into an STR?