First home purchase, Cleveland, multi

[Charlie McVan]

Hello all!

I have been following Bigger Pockets for about a year, first on the podcast, then in the forums. However, I haven't posted much of anything until now.

I live in downtown Cleveland with my wife and our goal (once we start) is 10 units in 3-5 years. We realize that house hacking is a good way to get started, but have struggled with leaving downtown as we like it so much.

Due to a series of related events, we decided to that we should at least look at areas we like to frequent (Ohio City, Tremont and Detroit Shoreway)(these are neighborhoods the border downtown Cleveland for those not familiar. 

Low and behold, we came across a unique situation this week (2 houses, 1 parcel) and it could be a fit. My parents want to invest in a place they can have as a second home, once my wife and I have kids. The stars aligned, priced dropped from $269,000 to $209,000 for 2 houses, (1550, sq ft and 1200 sq. ft). Which will allow us to live in one house, rent the other. Stay for a year and then head back downtown where we prefer to live.

This all happened within the last 5 days, so a bit of a whirlwind. Offer officially in as of today! 

A few questions I have for the masses here:

1. How does insurance work with, 1 mortgage, 2 houses on 1 parcel? 1 policy?

2. Best advice for going from a renter, to home owner and landlord in a month or two?

3. Anyone have experience with the second mortgage possibility on this unique property? If we decide to try and pull out the equity in the future.

Thanks all for reading/responding.

We are extremely excited to be finally pulling the trigger!