As for the water and trash cost, you should be able to call the city and get these numbers (especially if it’s such a small town).I’d also recommend talking to the current tenants to see if they’ve had any persistent issues (e.g. drainage issues which might point to roots in the drainage system lines and can be an expensive fix).

Just expressing my opinions now;  The root issue in my view that the DF authors where wanting to eradicate re Lonnie deal math is:  buy at $X  mark up to $3X and finance at 18%.  

Definitely get the survey to make sure what the seller is charging you in price is what you are getting.Example you buy a .50 acres for 45,000.The new survey reveals the actual acreage is .33 acres.So instead of paying 90,000 an acre you would be close to 135,000.Also the soil will tell how expensive it is a long with the root system to build on the land.A bunch of rock or a steep slope can get very expensive to build on.If sewer is not there and you want septic the county might require a minimum lot size to build on.You just really need to do a lot of due diligence on it.

Lots of great local groups around, each with pros and cons:TRIG: meetups once/month, paid membership, tons of local rooted investorshttps://www.trigofva.com/Hampton Roads Investor Group: Free, hosted by Investor/Agents at 1st Class Real Estatehttps://www.facebook.com/group...ReSolve Meetup:https://www.facebook.com/REsol...Hop-portunity Investing:https://www.facebook.com/hoppo...

The no FHA/VA loan had a large tree whose roots cracked the driveway that ran through the backyard to a garage at the back of the lot. 

Best of luck, we're all rooting for you

I had several root intrusions, and some spots where the pipe wasn't round but an oval. 

Does your family have roots in the neighborhood or in the local school?

At that time we found the sink cabinet was water damaged and replaced it (still not 100% sure if Tenant, we took the hit on it), sewer line backed up due to roots and had costs associated with jetting & roto-rooting sewer and hot water heater replaced.  

with  the duplex it could be annoying and a diamond in the ruff to find.there are some houses we would consider living in and letting our family plant some roots...