The other portion of your question and getting down to the tax benefits of it are going to be best addressed by a CPA yes, as you're going to be going off of a % base or SqFt base and it sounds like it isn't a true 'duplex' equal down the middle in terms of sizing- to then split your deductions 50% down the middle would fall into the real of we don't go there and mess with Uncle Sam that way and stay out of trouble.

Goal is to slowly scale into medium-sized multi-family apartments. 

The administration announced doubling the size of the IRS over ten years.

This was a first come first serve deal, sourced from New Western Acquisitions.

The propery is a good fit for us size and location wise, no rush to move out. 

Might serve to ease your anxiety when the time comes to deploy that cash you've been stockpiling in the meantime.Best 

Go with half the size of a sheet of paper.

Is that a typical rent for that size property in that area? 

Granted, I only did 10 deals this evening so not exactly an earth shattering sample size...haha.

I'd like to leverage this into a mid-size multifamily via cash-out refinance.