She wants to sell without an agent now and is therefore willing to lower the price.

But as Brant said above, they are lower risk and safer than mom and pop shops.Strip center's are also a great alternative and as you said, the diversity creates less risk and more opportunity. 

For owner-occupied, it can finance up to a four-plex.With this type of loan, renovations cannot exceed 75% of sales price + renovation, or the appraised value, whichever is lower.

The Seller doesn't know much about how protocol/procedures work in the real estate arena and we are trying to avoid using our RE agent to lower cost of purchase so we (my business partners and I) trying to do as much legwork as possible.

Otherwise, profits are lower, it's hard to find compelling deals, and there is little room for error in deal execution. 

If they raise it more than what you paid for it, you should be able to protest the value and submit the required documents proving it is worth that amount only as well as comps if they are substantially lower.

We would only have to put 3.5% down, get into the best school district in the state and lower our fixed monthly housing expense by $2k per month, with the 2 rental units occupied! 

After all during the recession the highest rates of unemployment were at the lower income and education levels.

Their returns are typically lower than the amounts promised by an LLP syndication but they do retain their tax deferred status.

Based on the real cost of home ownership renting will easily be lower than owning a home.