Most hard money lenders won't loan on an owner-occupied 1-4 unit property.

Does your monthly income assumption of $5,300 account for you occupying one of the units in the property? 

@Tim Jacob, does the 2-unrelated-adults law apply to owner-occupied properties in the county as well?

I'd say that's your biggest risk, btw- with 7 units occupied already, there's bound to be a problem tenant. 

That can be great, but of course you won't be collecting rent on the unit you occupy.

If you occupy the duplex it will add to the difficulty of finding a private lender as Dodd Frank kicks in, so you wil not find a HML and a note investor may consider it but again the interest rate would be around 12% and over a very short time frame. you would not get a note investor to go longer than 10 years and in this instance possibly even 5. 

The house is currently occupied by the owner. 

They were unable to fix a problem and the unit was unsafe to occupy. 

But I really long to have something that is my own, whether I occupy it or not.Thanks for reading my story everyone, I look forward to learning from all of you!

It's got curb appeal, and you may be able to reduce your mortgage payments by renting out the rooms you don't occupy, but it's not great from an investment perspective.