When looking for my first house many years ago, I had a realtor tell me that the up down duplexes are more desirable because they "look" more like a single family home. I now own an up down duplex, only because the numbers worked on it. It's in a residential neighborhood with mostly single families and a few duplexes here and there (all single families that were converted to up/down). And I have to agree with that realtor of yore. One would could never tell from the street which are duplexes and which are not. In that way I guess you could argue that the up/down duplex could... possibly... help retain the neighborhood house values. Areas where there are many side by side duplexes tend to have lower values overall, at least in my neck of the woods. That said, my up/down was definitely cheaper than any of the side by sides I looked at because it was a lot older and in rougher shape, yet the rents were comparable. That's why I ended up getting the up/down. So in the end, it's a numbers game. Best wishes to all you duplex investors!
