I do these for  my clients in Asia.. super cool.

It's very difficult and risky for a newbie to buy something and fix it up with no experience and contacts and time and do this from out of state.

I've had irate calls from clients who are driving around, looking for a Zillow listing, just to find that it doesn't exist.And their Zestimates...YIKES! 

Not doing so would be unwise, especially in an unusual situation like this where he has already been accepted and the reason for denial is difficult to quantify. 

My clients are HWN earners, business owners, physicians, etc that desire to allocate funds to income property passively.

At this point, you can only have deductible losses if you qualify as a RE Pro - which is very difficult to qualify for.

I spoke to a mortgage broker and he told me it will be very difficult to get a FHA mortgage on a 2 family when I am currently living in a SFR. 

While I have not yet conducted the analysis, I know how to value the property if it were sold as a single-family home (comps, though direct comps will be difficult), but I am inexperienced with commercial properties. 

If you choose to work directly with the seller, that is your choice but then you might not be able to get help from a realtor.Some relators might do a CMA for a flat fee or to provide you what you need, but that does not prevent them in any case to show the property to their clients..If you want to do this on your own, that is fine, but then you need to do this on your own.If you are starting in real estate, you might be better of working with a local relator, it might save you money and issues down the road.

@Cole ShawdThis question is difficult to answer as we don't have all the information.There are a couple of reasons your CPA may have said what he said.1) You may be making over $150,000 and not eligible to utilize passive losses from your rental against your other income.