I have a confession: my only duplex, which I gave owned now for 2 years and recently moved out of from a house hack, has proven to cost me more to maintain/pay taxes/repair/fix etc to the point where my cash flow is close to zero.

The patent on the 30 year with taxes and insurance was 3900 or so.   

It should cash flow 400/month after taking taxes/HOA into account.

Also any tips for automating this as much as possible and how to protect the property financially and property management would be appreciated.I ALMOST understand the rental arbitrage strategy if building a company scaling with say 30 + units and looking for high short term cash flow.  

Would love to connect and be a resource to you anyway that I can - I'm a realtor, and investor in the area and have some tips & tricks you can implement into your business and see if it helps! 

Tax and Legal ConsiderationsUnderstand the tax implications and legal responsibilities associated with rental income.

Typically, the adjustments I see on appraisals for basements are more flat rate adjustments. 10k is usually the number I've seen.What stinks is that there are a couple of model types that have below grade space where the builder, I'm sure, was trying to lower the taxes by having it below grade so the county wouldn't count that space in the assessment.

Positives are proximity, low property taxes, no income taxes, no weather events, very low maintenance stucco/tile structures, “young” properties (5-20 years old) 

However , properties taxes are due like roughly 12k for the two lots. 

It's a more affordable market and lower property taxes, so you may actually have a chance to cash flow.