When you have dozens or hundreds of tenants paying you every 30 days you don’t have to kill yourself saving back from your w2 job or beg the bank for a loan to buy real estate

Contact the banks.

If you are going with a traditional bank, your best bet is a smaller regional bank. 

I'm wondering if the bank's appraisal will only look at other multi-family zoned properties for comps, or would include other properties in this case since they are both technically single-family homes.

@Chester Straley  Conventional banks will generally only do an appraisal and title search. 

this is tricky, it tends to be a case by broker-case basis, and only a handful of brokers control the bank-owned..yikes......i forgot if the agent can rep. the bank and you, there in NC, if you make offer..Just thinking out-loud and opinion, not telling you what to do, dont know your plan (hold, flip, or your funding):  ...get over there, with a property preservation buddy, assess the repair and upgrades, (unless its already pretty perfect or you feel the agent can give you some accurate idea)...ask agent what he/she can sell for in good condition, confirm.. then factor arv, repairs needed, make offer with 10 day due diiigence professional inspection......are you offering an almost full retail-market priced forclosure anyway, then are you going to hold it for cash flow? 

I'm basically banking on any of the 3 units to move at some point and then I'll be solidly in the red.

An MD at an investment bank will chuckle with the typical elevator pitch done by most real estate "investors" but a private individual with whom one has a pre-existing relationship (and limited real estate knowledge) might be intrigued. 

Banks will refinance the property you paid cash for, but only on the amount used to purchase the home and not the renovations. 

We are planning to finance the deal so you can think of the bank as being another party in this transaction.My question for the community is the following:  How do you guys usually structure these kinds of deals?