We've been using Rachel Ford for years and she is a total rock star!  

Lone Star Carpet

I have a rental property that I will be doing some energy efficiency improvements using local utility grant money through the energy star home performance program.

For this reason instead of sticking to SFH, I have began running numbers on Duplexes which cash flow much better but I feel like it will be more difficult to find one with equity since they are valued differently.So my question is if I should shoot for the stars with a duplex that cash flows really well and has equity I can use a year after it is purchased or a SFH that may not cash flow as well but has much more equity.

As a buyer, you don't pay commissions so I recommend that you find a realtor who works with investors (versus those who star on Instagram) to add bench strength to your search, analysis, valuation, and resource pool.  

@John Casmon is another all-star active in that market. 

US Bank Trust NA is not a bank, this is a sub of Lone Star Funds.

I am pretty lost in this whole space but I know I definitely want to star investing into real estate.

Mark,This is a great thread about one person’s experience with Morris: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/392727-morris-invest-case-study-20I am not a real estate super star yet but I have watched many of his podcasts.

A little more about myself - I studied Environmental Engineering in college, but currently work to help commercial office buildings get LEED and/or ENERGY STAR certified (mostly large, class A in Chicago, but also smaller/suburban and across the United States).