We purchased our first duplex last year and we are currently house-hacking it.

If this is an office building adjacent to a large hospital campus, even better, as it is very uncommon for hospitals to close down, so you will likely have strong long-term demand.Given the occupancy, you don't have any real upside beyond rent growth over time.  

For the amortization period, go as long as you can (often 30 years) as that will lower your payments. 

I'm looking more into long term rental since I have no experience or time flipping houses.

Funny thing is that the agent saw how much I liked it and tried to buy it herself but then last minute her money fell through so she came back to me and I had 2 weeks to buy it before probate got involved.

Hey everyone, im returning after a long hiatus.

I would like to retain this house and turn it into a mid-term or long-term furnished rental.I would like to move out of that house and into a bigger primary residence which would likely be a $750-850k purchase price.

In today's environment its very different than the last 3, 5, 10 years. 

They are fairly average for any period to time beyond the last 5-ish years.2.

As long as it's a lease, I get the tax write offs.