Back with another newbie ARV question...

[Kavin Kuykendall]

Hey BP,

So I've got another potential BRRRR prospect in Walla Walla, Wa. This is a Duplex I'm having trouble estimating the ARV on. Lets talk about the subject:

Single level

Year: 1913 house with an added unit in 1983

Sqft: 1734 total (867 each)

Lot: 7500

Floorplan: 2bed/1bath/1laundry each unit

Since I want to BRRRR its obviously in rough shape. According to the listing there is some water in the crawl space and damage to the siding. However, this is also in what I believe to be a great area (near a park, college, and other great homes).

My question:

Since there are no nearby (within a half mile), recently sold duplexes in the area, can I just take a single family home with good comps to come up with my ARV? For example a comp could look like:

Early 1900s

~1700 SqFt house, 

~7500SqFt lot

4bed/2 or 2.5 bathroom/1utility room.

My thought behind this was if I were to own the SFH above^^ and wanted to divide it into two rental units I could do so without negatively effecting the ARV. Right?

However, because there is more competition for a SFH, I'm sure a duplex of the "same size" would have an ARV of less. But if I got a good gauge for similar SFH ARVs in the area I could at least be sure I'm not overshooting my ARV estimate with this duplex. Does that make sense? How do you deal with this issue?

As always thank you all for acting as my virtual mentors!