If you can house hack and there are available two-families in your area, this is a great option to start.

ROC USA is your option but that is a big number and you may be running out of time at this point. 

I’ve seen properties advertised that the tenant is responsible for the HOA and it just screams cheap owner don’t rent hereLawncare - optional.

So on the surface, this sounds like a solid deal, compare it to any other available options and if it makes the most sense, pull the trigger, kick it out and then keep growing into the next one.  

So the only options are to house hack or buy and sell- which isn't honestly the best idea right now. 

Non-residential properties have a few extra options compared to residential properties.However, before looking at the accelerated depreciation (100% bonus is a form of it), you need to figure out if you will be able to take these losses.

Usually we have a few thousand dollars each year to invest after we max out these accounts (and it usually just goes into a taxable brokerage account where we use it to buy Berkshire Hathaway or Markel or some other stock that does not pay a dividend).That extra money was actually how we ended up buying this duplex - thought it might be a good way to diversify our investments.I was wondering if I could use net income from our duplex (assuming we have net income, and by net income I mean what we report to the IRS) to fund a solo 401k or some other kind of tax-advantaged plan?

There are lots of options for assumable loans in the outskirts that might be worth looking into

zonesage.com is a quality option.

She told me just like this hire workers that do great work , have a timeline for the flip she said about 3 months is a good time another thing that I  found interesting if they don't get it done in that timeframe the lender charges them an extra 1500 each month until home is sold to get money back.