He bought the place several years ago for $500K and has an additional $150k HELOC on it that may or may not have a balance. 

It is actually very difficult to know exactly what they are thinking.

Ensure that you are budgeting your time accordingly and balancing your real estate education with your actual education.

The other way is by cherry picking locations where they could be needed (areas of high growth, difficult zoning, past attempted locations, etc.). 

@Ho Eun ParkYouTube can teach you everything you could imagine there’s a video for every repair imaginable .most home repairs are not that difficult if you understand what you are doing .

I'm also wondering if you noticed it be more difficult to gain listings / closings because of eXp.

Initially tenants may not notice, but I do feel that it is more difficult to increase rates once they are in the unit. 

Keep in mind that if your buyer is also going to be taking out another loan to cover all or some of his portion of the payment of the balance to you, the lending institution is going to want you to take a subordinate position to their first-lien note. 

Depending on the state, you're responsible for the total payoff including the entire outstanding balance, arrears and legal costs. 

Unfortunately it may be very difficult to find a duplex in this area at your $200k price point - I certainly didn't see anything I would consider livable in the area I've described at that price but then again there's LOTS of properties here.