For tax purposes, the IRS will treat your tri-plex as three separate and distinct units.  

Of course it could be divvied even smaller - Outer banks, Wilmington/SE, Mountains North/Mountains South, etc - but I think those 5 easily cover the bulk of the state, and the little specialty areas that might be missed don't have enough people to worry about as @Chris Martin mentioned.I don't invest here but I do a lot of work here and there are definite distinctions in the areas. 

Do you make a clear distinction between what's included and what's complimentary?

I see them as two separate and distinct business deals.To illustrate:Transaction 1:Seller engages an agent to sell his house for 100KThe agent finds a buyer and brings them to the seller. 

Chris makes a point that brings up a great distinction...Your local jurisdiction may require you to pull permits on things like replacing the HVAC unit, and it's never a bad idea to do so (improperly installed HVAC systems can leak carbon monoxide, which can kill people).But, in my opinion, there are a lot of things that local building departments say should be permitted, but that I will rarely permit if that's all I'm doing.

With experience in both markets, I am not sure there is really a great distinction between the two markets and it is more of a function of opinion and comfort.In both markets you will find assets that run the range from low to high value.

What I think the main distinction is is the INTENT of the parties to the contract.

Investor responded, understand the distinction.

I've never understood the mysterious distinction between regular rewards and paint rewards.

I wanted to do something distinctly Brazilian so we imported 15 tons of Portuguese cobblestone to recreate the Copacabana boardwalk pattern on our driveways.