I'm assuming you plan to self-manage, however if you consider the future you may not always want to self-manage so it's a good idea to factor in management fees when looking at properties (typically I use 10% as a management fee amount).If I use $285k purchase price with 4.990% rate and 20% down, income of $1981/month, expenses of $250/month, property taxes of $3,100/year (per your calc), insurance of $150/month, vacancy of 8%, R&M of 7%, CapX of 10% and management of 10% then I calculate you'd be a negative $593.76/month in cashflow.

., I would be cash flow positive in roughly 2 years (not factoring tax incentives, etc.).

., I would be cash flow positive in roughly 2 years (not factoring tax incentives, etc.).

Just looking for the x-factor that sets some agents apart from the rest. 

Alex,If you are not local to the duplex, there is another factor in the value of a public adjuster. 

I know this question is very broad since each market depends on so many personal factors about who you are as an investor but I have been having a hard time finding one to even consider to focus on.

How do I factor this?

If you are using the realized equity to acquire good ROI deals, the extra 1.5% margin would just need to be factored into the analysis of those deals.

That would be a strong factor in influencing their decision in our favor. 

Note: that 0.85% can vary depending on the percent down and other factors so check with a loan officer for different scenarios.Finally, your monthly P&I payment is based on the Total Loan Amount (Base Loan + UFMIP) which is $176,739.75 and on a 30 year term at 5.00% this gives a monthly payment of $948.78, so about $16 more than what you have.Not sure about closing costs in TX -- here that $3K would be low.