Chris,What are you looking to finance or accomplish I ask because with a quick Yelp review there are some negative reviews.

One of my applicants showed up with little credit but no defaults, no evictions, and only traffic violations and verified income high enough to cover well over 3 times the rent and I accepted the tenant despite there being some signs.He paid the rent in time for the most part until a few weeks ago when he stopped and I could not get ahold of him.

Outside of West Oakland, what areas would you say are likely to go up in value over time - what pockets/neighborhoods are you looking at?

Take the time to really understand the neighborhoods.

With one duplex you should be focused on selling 99.9% of the time and .1% on the duplex.

This also probably ensures that they will continue to depreciate against the US dollar over time. 

There are a lot of good posts on here so I would take some time and read the forum so you can hit the ground running.

They preach that its not about the Real Estate yet there is alot of time spent on the real estate itself.

Perhaps some time will provide clarity in one direction or the other. 

I don't want to waste anyone's time providing quote after quote for me for the properties I am merely in the analysis stage with.