The only problem is I live 4 hours away and the home might need a-lot of capital to fix up and I don't know if the juice will be worth the squeeze. 

While you can’t completely control who applies to live in your properties, you most definitely can find areas that are popular with students, young professionals, families, etc. 4) just as important as finding the property, you need to have an exit strategy in mind for the property.

You did not say where you live?

If so, have you ever done a buy and hold partnership deal that includes one partner invests and the other lives in as principal residence for 2+years during renovation and manages property until sale? 

They want to confirm nobody is living in the basement.

As a new real estate investor living in the crazy expensive Bay Area rental market, I'm exploring clever ways to get into investing.

Since you're planning on living in one of the units, you might consider an owner-occupied loan.

I want to live in the studio and rent the house.  

You can raise rents but there will be different lengths of time that you have to provide notice depending on how long the tenant has been living there.

I live at Azure Residences overlooking the Caribbean Ocean in Aruba.