It'll provide better separation and space and likely some desirable storage space.  

I know creative financing strategy exists to really serve my growth desire, but I am very interested to know how other people grow their portfolio using more "traditional" financing.

My wife and I live in Laramie as well and have similar desires of getting in to the mulit-unit game.  

It seems to be a desirable path, especially with long-term loan rates being 3-4%, and with the inflation of the dollar it seems like a good idea to take on fixed, manageable debt..Anyway, I have about $15k in cash saved and would like to travel and look up different cities that seem to have a healthy pulse to them, currently looking at Indianapolis as an example.

Can be in less desirable areas such as industrial or warehouse districts.This is a decent example of what I have in mind: http://deepellumss.com/Should I contact owners directly if I see a place I like? 

@Marcus ColemanFor some of the nicer, apartments in desirable neighborhoods, there are Koreans who will put up to 450,000,000 KRW down - that's about $450,000.

Also, the desirable neighborhoods and/or communities we were desiring because we were going to be "House Hacking", the properties were over priced.

I actually hadn't thought about doing an option with a "purchase window" that covers his desired closing date.

How hard were the more desirable areas hit?

The house we found was in a desirable neigborhood and was listed for 280k paying my closing costs.