Another option would be to get private funding thru a family member / friend and they can place a 2nd lein on your duplex as collateral. 

I plan on living in this house for the first semester, and renting out the other three rooms to my friends.

Ex.

Conventional financing has very specific rules to follow and falsifying information on the application to get a better interest rate or to qualify and then subsequently closing on the property is a really big deal.There are loans out there that do not require seasoning of funds, would allow your friend the investor to not be on the loan (or be on the loan if he/she wants depending on credit), but it's not a conventional loan and the interest rates are not conventional interest rates.  

When my friends disagreed and we moved to house without one, I built a cheap storage shed.

My investing partner does not think we need to budget for Cap Ex yet because we are making a lot of heavy repairs from the start and she wants that extra cash flow to roll into future properties.

Welcome, Friend!

I have a very funny story about that street that happened to a very good friend of mine. 

Yes ask your realtor friend.

We have friends that have condos in Venice but it's not a good place for VRBO's that I know of.