As the first is planned to be completely finished by February (I am doing most work myself), is my thinking process flawed..bare with me.I am wanting to refi my first duplex purchase asap, I can do it after 6 months there was no seasoning on the original mortgage.

Sad that I barely get to enjoy those places :)

Requires a new approval - usually at bare mimum this will take a few more weeks and require a bunch of new docs and review.

You definitely don't want someone who BARELY qualifies to be your top offer.

Check if you have bare pipes in the attic, if you do, get them wrapped with pipe insulation. 

But my gut feeling is, given the age of the carpet, stairs would be just bare 2x. 

I noticed that in most cases my cash flow was negative, or barely breaking even (the median home price is $600k+ here, most people don't rent for $6,000/mo if you follow the 1% rule). 

Equity in a property is cash hoarding since it generates the bare minimum in ROI and eats any returns the property itself could generate when appointed a decent return.  

If he ever wants to get financed he should keep this number in mind as a bare minimum.

As far as property condition, after 5 months the place should be spotless, you barely lived there.