I'd put as little down as possible and plan to renovate the worst unit (the one you live in).

He reminded me that worst case scenario is that I put the deed back in my name and make sure I have a good umbrella liability policy (I've been convinced that insurance can be sufficient in most cases, see e.g. this post by Matt Faircloth). 

3) In the worst case scenario, if Michele contracts COVID19 and she thinks it's because of Stephanie, as a landlord, should I be responsible, legally speaking? 

3) In the worst case scenario, if Michele contracts COVID19 and she thinks it's because of Stephanie, as a landlord, should I be responsible, legally speaking?

would be nice at times to not have to deal with the $1500-3000 piece of equipment that always goes out at the worst possible times it seems. 

You really need to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. 

One thing I suggest is to run the numbers “worst case scenario”.

Worst case scenario the commissioner says their price is firm. 

Worst comes to worst, there’s always air bnb. 

Duplexes are kind of the worst of both worlds, relatively high per-unit cost, the extra expenses of MFR properties, but not enough units to really get efficiencies of scale.You're biggest challenge is going to be finding something that can cash flow.