There are also frequently multiple homes on the same lot or that offer dual living potential. 

We live in an extremely litigious society, and we have a lot of tools to protect our assets.

If you have a genuine answer for that I am curious to hear. this^^^ if you buy a property you are happy in and can comfortably afford thats fantasic, if it happens to be a good investment as well even better, if you buy an investment property to live in and you don't like living there & the investment goes south, both strong possiblities in baltimore multi family and you've exhausted your life saving's you are triple screwed.

With seller contribution to your closing costs and a downpayment assistance program, you can purchase a home to live in with low out of pocket costs.

And if you've lived in it for 2 out of the 5 years prior to selling it then you get the $250K primary exclusion. 

I have a ton of experience and in investor relations so I live PPMs, OMs, Sub Docs & more. 

I can understand needing to make a living, and you do that by selling commission products, like many others. 

Has anyone lived there in the past 4 years?

I am able to work as a travel doc, and she works remotely in tech, and we plan to use our combined incomes to put towards REI, as well as keeping our cost of living reasonable!

First off  you have a CRIME FREE /Drug Free addendum on each tenant that lives in your rental.If you notice suspicious activity or have reports of the same you give tenant notice of high traffic / volume of people to unit as notice to cure.. if this continues or you see or smell drugs you give notice of non-compliance and lease termination. yes you can ask police for advise.. but your main goal is to limit the calls police have to make to your property so you don't want to be listed as a nuisance property. but if the issues warrants it yes call the cops and if a neighboring unit is worried tell them to call the cops sometimes you have to have a record of police calls to verify the issue so you can write up infraction for eviction action..