I understand there will be some other variables and influences but I would like to l isolate just a couple differences to gauge the impacts. 

Jobs are scarce and people are isolated and live in very very bad conditions = no (obvious) growth potential. 

(not sure if this works since I'm not 'pro') - BP rental calc has it avg $4,680/yr (for 1100 rent), even though I put the same exact numbers/expenses, etc as in my spreadsheet...not sure what I'm missing or how that number is really calculated4-Plex:Expected Purchase Price: 250kUnits: 4 (MFH)This is a recently rehabbed building, so no other upfront costs neededAll units are rented at 850 per unit, per month = 3,400/month (supposedly there is a wait list too, which I will be sent tomorrow)Location is not the greatest (no crime issues, just in a more isolated location.

I have one isolated issue, but I think it’s the tenant, not the program. 

If you do decide to go with the duplex i dont know your building floor plan idea but the ones with garages in the middle isolate and deaden the noise from each unit in the living area.

Insurance is good for managing risk of an active investment, and an LLC is good to isolate those risks from the rest of your life.

SVB is NOT an isolated incident, more issues are on the horizon and this will require a bail out and/or a bond pricing relief. 

As Engelo and I can attest, this commitment may keep you pretty isolated outside of your team.Why Most Realtors SuckSpeaking as a licensed broker who started out as a client of realtors for many purchases, I can attest to the truth in this concept.

The more people have to share bathrooms, the less comfortable the housemates will be, and the more problems you'll have.A layout that makes each bedroom relatively private and isolated--for instance, a bedroom that's down a hall and around a corner from the kitchen is much more private than a bedroom RIGHT NEXT to the kitchen, living room, or other high-traffic area.A layout that minimizes the amount of traffic that goes by the bedrooms--for instance, a bedroom that's right next to the front door sees a lot more traffic than a bedroom at the back of the house.Multiple floors, with the bedrooms and bathrooms on separate floors--for instance, I have a 3 story house that has 2 brs/1ba on the bottom floor, 2 brs/1ba on the middle floor, and 1 master suite on the top floor--this makes it so that no more than 2 people are "living" on each floor, and one person (the master suite) has a floor all to themselves--this provides a lot more privacy and living space for each person compared to a 5 br house where all br's and ba's are on the same floor.Multiple exterior entries/exits in locations that allow tenants to come and go with minimal disturbance to the other housemates.Carpet greatly reduces noise, whereas hardwood floors (especially old ones) can be very creaky.A large kitchen with plenty of food storage space (and perhaps even multiple fridges and dishwashers) will be much more livable than a small, cramped kitchen.Sufficient parking will be important.Ideally, an HVAC system that allows each housemate to control the temp in their room would be great.Closely consider what types of tenants would want to live in the property.

If CA wasn't so expensive, I would probably put each of my properties under one LLC to keep them isolated from each other as much as I can.