I have no landlord experience and know that PMs usually charge 1 month's rent to find you a tenant and of course any repairs or maintenance that may ariseWith the following information, would it be better off to stay at my current apartment and just end my lease when it's time to take an assignment or should I purchase the duplex and possibly make extra income through cash flow and equity but also run the risk of repairs, maintenance, etc?

The risk you run of course is now you have more debt so in the case the market goes down and you need to sell, you run the risk of coming up short. 

those funds for short term high yield lending could be appropriate.. in reality that's how most HML companies work they have some sort of LOC  at a rate in the 5 to 6% rate and they loan at 10 to 15% apr and make the delta..now with 450k that won't exactly changed your lifestyle but it could bring you in an additional 30 to 40k a year with mitigated risk and no risk to tenants..

It comes down to risk tolerance and risk/reward.

At that time, I was barely a couple of years into my first job out of school and was very risk averse, and not a lot of savings to put as a down payment.

Depends on the type of property you have, your risk tolerance, your other estate planning, what other assets you may have, etc. 

I now wouldn’t have to carry a portfolio of properties that don’t have much room for appreciation and run the risk of being overleveraged.

That puts you at risk that some other bills come up and attach to the property before you can record your deed. 

At $100k I am $25k into my "safety net"...and I am very risk averse.Anyway after seeing the property sit a year I decided to reach back out to the owner (its a FSBO) and have another conversation.

Shopping around for the best rate is also good advice.I think it all comes down to your goals and your tolerance for risk and sweat equity.