Lower expectations or find a new strategy?

[Ashly B.]

I've been looking for my next deal for over a year. I live in a mid-size growing city in a LCOL area. House prices are notoriously low here. I don't know if its the inflated market, more people discovering our little gem and causing higher demand for MFR or what I'm doing wrong, but I can't find a deal where the numbers work.

Found what I thought was a great next buy. Duplex conversion, list price $165k, minimal updates needed. But when I crunch the numbers the returns are SOOOO low. Net income of $12,250. After mortgage payments, I'm left with somewhere between $4700 and $5600/year. I just can't wrap my head around going through the hassle for that little payback but I also don't have the funds to scale up and get something larger - maybe another fourplex if I found a great deal (I've been looking! none so far) but I want enough units/profit that I can hand over the day to day management, and settling for something with an 8% cap feels counterproductive toward that goal. 

What other ways can I make my money work? Maybe I need to branch out to other parts of my state that aren't seeing as much growth in hopes of finding better returns? Frustrated and feeling stuck. Help!!