I'd say set your sights a little higher - it will pay off in the long run to spend a bit more on a B/B+ property with stable tenants in a good area.

I almost pulled the trigger on a 1BR apt in Lincoln Park for $229K but it was just outside of my spending capacity, I would have become house poor and my goal is to buy investment properties in the near future.

Open an estate in his name myself in order for the courts to determine if he has heirs and if not, I could potentially get the house.I would have to spend about 20K to make it livable.What should I do?

they can spend a hundred bucks and on line  get a quack Dr. from the other side of the country to give an ESA paper . 

It has a lot of hardwood floors...ive read somewhere about putting lamiate over the hardwood as it is more tenant proof and you can protect the wood for when you sell?

Spend some time learning and asking questions.

We want to do this to get access to more conventional loans and for asset protection reasons in the future (I don't want to make two separate LLCs for the two properties I own in the state.) 

Long-term strategy is to grow through buy-and-hold and eventually move to full-time REI once cash flow can replace my current w2 earnings.Assuming $350k to spend, does anyone have any ideas on a better way to spend it than 20% down on two 3-families?

We did seasonal rental in Naples condo the first winter but it wasn't enough to cover costs and I had zero interest in spending summers in Naples.

Wear eye protection and gloves..