But be sure to weight all factors before doing so, in many cases you will do much better but keeping your 401k funds invested and using other sources for funding your personal investments. 

Asset managers take that into consideration and give it a lot of weight in deciding which offer to take.

As more and more people convert these to single family homes, the two flat becomes more and more rare in this neighborhood and more desirable.

If it's a desirable location, after repairs, you may have a deal.

ARV – Desired Profit – Closing Costs to Buy – Repairs – 10% of Repairs – Holdings Costs – Concessions – Realtor Fees – Closing Costs to Sell = Your Offer (MAO or Maximum Allowable Offer).ARV: After repaired value or what you think it will sell for once repaired.Desired Profit: This should be taken off the top first.

Even in these cases, I stub only if I can't get a screaming deal on the compressor.If these are desirable units that are priced correctly, you will always lose a few prospects because of this, but I have never found I get lower rents because of lack of A/C.  

Guessing you're desirous to turn your Pittsburg dirt into profits, I think you're on the right track though will suggest strongly that you yourself or someone very knowledgable that you can trust and manage babysits the process down to keys in hand, as I assure you, dealing with contractors and all entities along the developer's path takes an entirely whole new layer of skin and nerve.

The interior paneling was usually a  3/16 inch photo finished veneer very light weight and the exterior siding was aluminum which was also very lightweight.

It seems if you build it out into a proper modern small set of apartments, you can avoid any big maintenance issues for a long time, as well as making something highly desirable/and therefore priced accordingly. 

I think if people have the money and desire that might be a good fit for some.