In this type of agreement, you will usually be responsible for paying a percentage of the increase based on the amount of space that you occupy.3.

That will cashflow but that’s a big apartment to owner occupy.

Some HOAs limit owner occupied vs rental units %.  

The notes are on residential, owner-occupied properties.

All purchased with a 30-year fixed loan at 4%The first residential unit will be owner-occupied.

I self manage (for now)  owner had the property for 20 years, didnt manage it well, no one is screened properly. my wife and I must occupy the property so one must go. this is a class C community. inspection shows the systems and roof of the home to be in good shape. what would you do?

First, there are no and low seasoning options for non-owner occupied properties where income verification is not required.Loan amount and Loan to Value are key here. 

You could do a 1031 exchange at this point and roll the proceeds into another property.I think I would sell now when you wouldn't have to pay capital gains taxes.You could use some of these proceeds to buy another rental property and take advantage on a low down payment on your next owner occupied property.

We've looked at potential small business loans (SBA 7a or 504) until we realized that those are only applicable if your small business is occupying 51% of the real property purchased and not as real estate investment per se.Is the only way to continue to build our real estate portfolio, saving up 20% down payment for FHA loans?

Retail centers typically have higher rents you have to pay versus regular office because you are usually paying  for street frontage and higher traffic levels with better sight lines from the road.If you are buying a building you might look into an SBA loan if you will be occupying 50% of the space or greater.As far as owning you need to evaluate the space where you are currently at.