I'm not a lawyer so this is all true in my head and not real life.

The other portion of your question and getting down to the tax benefits of it are going to be best addressed by a CPA yes, as you're going to be going off of a % base or SqFt base and it sounds like it isn't a true 'duplex' equal down the middle in terms of sizing- to then split your deductions 50% down the middle would fall into the real of we don't go there and mess with Uncle Sam that way and stay out of trouble.

It's true that you have to commit to keeping the tenant for one year after accepting payment - however, you can evict if they fail to keep up on their rent going forward. 

.- I was able to get approved for access to private investigator software to find the true owners of these properties since conventional skiptracing produced poor results.

I won’t be using the LLC for the property but the principles of what you said would still remain true even if it was just a separate account.

It tells you the true story of whats going on.

I included the data from 2019 because original poster lied/was mistaken when they said we were back to 2019 levels, which obviously isn’t true. 

(It happens)Historical appreciation is no guarantee of future appreciationGetting a house for less than asking doesn't mean anything as most homeowners are also bad at gauging true valueSince you are in central Texas, have you looked into Lifestyles Unlimited? 

Does it ring true?

Many HMLs are lending out of their personal trust or self directed IRA - they are not true professional lenders.