At $900 per month and a 50% expense ratio you have a cap rate of 6.75.

I've been browsing listings yesterday and today and it seems like it may be difficult in my area to find a duplex that A) fits my budget, B) is large enough for my wife, daughter, dog, and me to live in, and C) is located in an area I feel comfortable putting my family.

Based on your numbers you have a 8.6 Cap.

I agree worthy investments are getting more and more difficult to find, and if you try to apply many of the rules of thumb espoused here on BP (1%, 2%) to most markets in Canada you risk becoming immediately discouraged.

As mentioned by @Robert Adams , Google is constantly changing their algorithm making it extremely difficult to stay on-top of organic rankings.

Depending on the laws in your state and how the agreement is worded you might find yourself in a difficult situation if they fall behind on payments.

Any MF investment is driven by cap rates.

To make this even more difficult, you can not sue your self, even if there are 2 separate entities.So in the end, if you want to protect the cash flow of the property, you need to either purchase the liability coverage for the property under the owner name or purchase the liability coverage for the property under the management company. 

(myself included) Very difficult to get loans without it.

Regarding what Kevin Dickson and Joe Fairless have said, verifying the law can be difficult.