Please confirm with the HCIDLA office what options you may have.Has the tenant actually completely filled out the document yet or just verbally stated the desire for relocation assistance?

Depends on your market, your desired scale, and your exit strategy.SFH:Easier to understand and pricePricing set in competition with other owner-occupantsEasier to sell off in pieces and at retail pricesMore systems to maintain than MFH all things being equalHarder to scale than MFHHigher rents per doorAll systems usually tenant maintainedMFH:Pricing set by profitability (cap rate)Exit strategy generally only other investorsEasier to maintain in larger numbers than SFH all things being equalEasier to scale than SFHLower rents per doorSome systems maintained by youThere's no answer to "which is better".

(i.e. 2 houses funding 1 mortgage) In this model you keep snowballing until you determine you have reached the limit that you can handle.Option 2: Set a "Cashflow" you are wanting to get from each unit then backcalculate what the max LTV is you can use to still meet the desired cashflow.

If you knew the owners had to kick in $500 monthly to the lender on top of your payment to them, that would probably impact your desire to take over their mortgage payment!

Only you know how much time you spent doing the above, but if you aren’t getting the results you desire, the answer isn’t to do (whatever you intended to do above NO DISRESPECT), but to learn from your mistakes and avoid making the same ones next time.  

The fear of loss is stronger than the desire for gain.So if you can't get her on board, and you are serious about a forever life together,  perhaps try a strategy that has much less possiblilty of monetary loss, like a sandwich lease/option, or wholesaling. 

Especially considering that we have a presidential election coming up and the democratic candidates couldn't be ideologically further from the Republican incumbent.So I guess it really depends on goals, strategy, desired ROI, etc.

Older senior areas the bottom units are usually more desirable, other people prefer living in the top for the views (if any) and the fact they don't have to listen to people walking on their ceiling. 

The neighborhood is very desirable but this house is on a small side street and it is nothing fancy.

This would be my first property purchase other than my own home, and though I had planned on getting started in real estate investing through maybe land flipping or buy and hold SFH, this seems like a good way to combine a desire for some shop space with potential for a little extra income.