First thing I would recommend is buying a house or duplex you can move into as an owner occupant.

If you mean Houses of Multiple Occupancy as used by the British (in the states the term is usually MFR, Multiple Family Residence), then you have to define how you count 200.

I originally visited this property in February, made the offer within 30 days, but it was contingent on certain repairs and a new Certificate of Occupancy (hence the 6 months between offer and closing).  

Whenever a tenant has asked that I remove a person from the property they are renting (boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, cousin, illegal subletting roommate, etc) I simply tell them that I cannot remove specific people, if it's an issue I will remove ALL occupants.  

.• Some business sectors/occupations were hurt less than others.

@Tyler Divine It definitely depends on your market and your end buyer, but if you are talking about the average owner occupant in the median price range or lower, flashy is probably best.  

"FHA loan rules for single family home loans found in HUD 4155.1 do list occupancy requirements.

This also depends on what you can buy it for.If a property is struggling and needs rehab and is a 60 unit say at 50% occupancy with rents at 460 a month.Then if you buy at such a low price you can reduce the rents below market to fill up fast and stabilize.So reduced rents could be 360 a month.You have bought at such a low cost that now you can undercut the other landlords that are strapped with heavy debt service and make a huge profit.You aren't charging top market rents so you have much less eviction and turnover costs.So as we all know there are general guidelines but every property is on a case by case basis.Every listing I take a learn a lot from each seller.Not really about the transaction side but how each of them 10,20,30 years in the business have run their properties and why.It's pretty interesting stuff.

What are the occupancy levels etc.?

Start by Googling "Certificate of Occupancy YOUR CITY" Most likely it will be on the city or towns website under the codes section.