Depending how much of the neighborhood is a hot zone for renting rather buying, and which Property type is performing better than the other (meaning 1bd 1ba 2 floor renting out faster and much more consistently than a 2bd 1ba 1 floor), you can make your choice of those factors as well as other ones that impact your decision for what you wanna do with your investment.

If anyone has listings or is a realtor that specializes in these types of properties, please reach out!

Second, for you as a taxpayer you need to evaluate if your tax situation (e.g. property type, tax profile, material participation, etc.) will allow you to leverage additional losses generate from cost seg to optimize your taxes. 

Given that this is a duplex it would depend the type of tenants.

Sometimes they forget to tell you that many tenants in Detroit don't pay (depending on the property manager skill and the type of tenant) - but taxes are very high in the city and so is insurance. 

Perhaps if your partner was a general contractor or handyman type there may be some merit there to reduce costs / increase profitability.If your partner enjoys deal sourcing, a better move might be for him to become an agent - so he could legally collect commissions from finding deals and managing properties for multiple people. 

I think that’s what you meant to type.

Would it be buying more of the same type of properties or expanding into larger properties?

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I am looking for a similar type California brokerage too.