Are there any positive sides to owning a condo/coop that will outweigh this?

At the end of the day, if the savings of the refi outweigh the loan costs, I'd do it assuming this is a long-term hold.

@Kyle Cooper I won't ever own a home with a pool unless I'm grown with a wife and kids and we are all able to enjoy it to where the opportunity far outweighs the cost.

Long term I'd have the added benefit of being able to increase the rental rates of two units with the duplex vs the one with the SFH.The other side is the location of the SFH is so great I fear the appreciation may far outweigh what I'll get on the duplex over the next 5-10 years.

Hopefully your added property/sales tax dollars outweighs the publicview point.

Real Estate Professional StatusDepreciation outweighs profits. 

The upside potential far outweighs the downside, assuming you approach it in a responsible and educated way.It seems like we're in a similar stage.

or some call them pipe farms.. there were some incredible deals in 2010 on dirt far out weighing most any other investment just on  buy it for X sell it 7 years later for X.  

The COC you're looking for is going to be tough to obtain as property taxes are higher but the anticipated growth far outweighs the cash flow difference. 

For me - the pros far outweigh the cons in REI.