If you go in the attics and look towards the Gable wall of most masonry built houses you will be able to see the masonry block/brick construction.

From what I can tell, anywhere from a couple of blocks north of Chandler Blvd all the way south to Queen Creek seems like relatively lower risk/steady appreciation areas.

I recently looked at a house in the 3100 block of N. 34th.

"How long is the typical due diligence" -- I would ask yourself how well do you know the market, submarket, street block?  

I told him that I was a real estate investor that lived a block over (which I do) and that I was interested in buying his house. 

This seems to be what my HR Block software says.

I gave them one (much higher sell price) only two blocks away.

Trim was replaced, block wall was scraped/treated and we got under carpet and behind adjacent and upper walls to confirm no hidden areas.In addition the air quality test didn’t tell us we had an ongoing problem.I’ve considered a follow up air test, but am wondering if there are home kits or if purchasing testing equipment would be cheaper than the $600 charge by the local testing agency.

I thought both sounded high but its within 10 blocks of 2 major universities (Illinois State University/ Illinois Wesleyan) and from the research ive done, rent is very high around those schools.

There's an old saying in real estate that you don't want to have the most expensive house on the block.