I have a condo with a very strict HOA and most of the owners are retired.

But for a strictly passive investor, its hard to beat a good stock fund.

We could look at an FHA loan, which would allow as little as 3.50% down on a duplex, but there are down sides to this and we would want to make sure the property would meet FHA guidelines after you’ve seen it- I feel confident we would get approval on this if the home would meet FHA guidelines.So the FHA route is clearly applicable here, however, I have heard that the FHA is a strict/timely process with lots of additional fees associated with it.

I own SFRs in Humble, specifically choosing that area to invest and live because of the lower flood risk, but haven’t bought yet this year for lack of deals meeting my strict criteria, so I have some capital.

It is a pretty strict process, but one that needs to be rigorous (too many knucklehead agents out there that do not know what they are doing). 

So I sent an email detailing everything I was looking for, strictly looking to rent on a month to month basis and need a garage. 

It's always good to consult an attorney to be safe, but has she considered keeping the amount of rent owed for strictly the days the tenant is there and pro rating the rest back to them?

I would either hire someone to do it, or implement a hard set of rules and work strictly off it.  

Above board legal Airbnb is a bit tricky because laws generally fall into 3 categories or somewhere between:  defined and strict, defined and flex ( rare, but check texas :), or undefined ( not stable, because they will change ).  

Burbank is very strict on that and may give you a hard time on permitting the addition unless it is.