I had a unique situation come up and wanted to see if anyone had any ideas. 

You will have a unique marketing experience.

And if that's something I need to explore as a new investor.

If he wants to have total control over his retirement funds instead of going through a middle man for every investment and every transaction then he may want to explore Checkbook IRA. 

The largest hurdle for us was finding a lender and a realtor that understood the unique requirements of buying multifamily with FHA. 

There are other requirements and rules, which you can explore here.

So after 1-2 years, based on how "landlord 101" goes, I plan to explore other income property opportunities - whether I stay there or find another place to owner occupy.

@Stefanie Willie-Bonglo  I'm exploring the same option for a REI LLC that I plan to start.

Have you considered attempting to explore options of buying from the seller and renting the property so you can begin to create your own portfolio of passive income?  

They have agreed to hold paper for us on unique properties they wouldn't normally, such as off the grid properties.Finding the right properties is the biggest challenge, once that's done getting them ready and rented is easy and the fun part for us!