OP thanks for asking the question. Thinking of doing this myself (or a 4-unit, but that might be more complex), so I'm commenting to catch any updates.
Cool. I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible since I'll likely be working in public accounting, which can demand 60-70+ hour work weeks depending on the time of year. I really would prefer just one tenant. As opposed to a true real estate "investor", I don't absolutely
have to be cash flow positive all the time.
e.g. I buy a $180,000 duplex at 4%, 15 year with a 20% downpayment. Monthly payment including insurance and tax would be maybe about $1300.
If expenses were $1300 and I only charged the tenant $800 rent , I'd only being paying $500/month to build equity in a $180,000 house. Over the 15 years (not including maintenance, tenant-less periods, etc. etc.) I'd pay $90,000 for the $180,000 property. For real estate investors, in the conventional sense, this might be an unacceptable return, but I'd be pretty happy with something like this for a home purchase.
Those are my general, unsophisticated plans.