General Duplex Questions

[Jon B.]

Hi all,

I've just recently begun my journey to find my first rental property, and am considering newer (10 yrs old or less), mostly-rent-ready duplexes in good neighborhoods.  I have a couple of general newbie questions I was hoping someone could help with:

• When viewing duplex listings on sites like Zillow, some of the listings are obviously tenantless, as the pictures show bare rooms with no furniture, but some listings show fully-furnished rooms. Short of contacting the selling agent or owner, can it be generally assumed that a duplex listed on the MLS is tenantless unless otherwise specified?
• As someone with no experience, it seems odd to me that most duplexes I've seen in my area are listed as just one side of the duplex.  I guess I had always just assumed that a complete duplex (both sides, the entire structure) is owned by a single owner.  This seems like it could be a potential cause of conflict: if I own one side of a duplex, what if a shared part of the structure (the roof, for example) needs to be replaced, and the owner of the other side doesn't agree?  Is this a concern in reality?  Is it generally the case that a different owner owns each side of a duplex?

Thanks in advance for furthering my education.  :-)