Since you have to be an active agent for 3 years anyway, go ahead and get started. 

If you are going to be renting it out it will be an investment property.

They are not as sexy and for a young person who wants to live for today it may not make much sense but if we have coffee and spend 45 mins I absolutely know I will convince you to buy a duplex.  

Let's connect or meet for coffee sometime this coming week.

You can find a deal with 10-15 mins a day of work... get up a little earlier than normal, have some coffee, check Zillow/Realtor/whatever you use for MLS searches and keep a spreadsheet with home data on it to monitor trends until you find something you want to make an offer on.

I feel like this could be a good opportunity, but I have not pursued anything further because I get stuck at the idea that I may need to put down 30k-35k down payment (3.5% FHA) (which I probably could), but then the renos would certainly be an additional 100k-150k. 

Purchase price: $645,000 Cash invested: $1,000,000 Purchased 11k sq ft historic funeral home which had been partially converted to a strictly residential property by former owners.Reconfiguring property interior to hold 13 apartments (8x studios, 4x 1 BR, 1x 2 BR) and retail space for a restaurant, coffee shop, wine bar, etc.

If you stay on the weekends because you are away Mon - Fri, there shouldn't be an issue.Please note, depending on the location, property type, and seller's situation (i.e. their motivation & desired closing date) 203K loans can be difficult to get accepted. 

I would love to take experienced investors in Athens out to lunch or coffee! 

You did pay a lot but a lot of time has past and I would lean towards the contractor side since this doesn't appear to be an lvp install issue.