I'd rather just buy a house that will be an investment (purely to generate income) and stay living where I am until I can purchase a home for myself.

It becomes a bit trickier when comparing development projects to pure acquisitions (existing properties) given the two deals have very different inherent risks, however a general rule of thumb is that a development project should generate a YoC 1.5%-2.5% higher than the market cap rate (what it would cost to buy a existing duplex).

I do not think this will change within the next few years since I think the interest rates will remain in this range for a few years going forward and I don't see there being any large corrections in housing prices to compensate purely because the housing supply is still very limited.

@Erickson Sainval, the joys of multifamily, and particularly larger scale multifamily is two fold, regarding rehabs: a) you are doing the same finishes across all units.  

Were you looking to house-hack this duplex or is it purely investment?

The 19th Ward can change Street by street and block by block from pure gold to pure junk.

Kilz Complete is a high VOC oil-based primer, Penetrol comes in at a much higher the VOC content, and paint thinner is almost pure VOCs, so if you plan on doing a significantly amount of oil-based painting indoors, you need the aforementioned half-face respirator fitted with organic vapor cartridges.If you want to replace pieces of trim, as Karen S. suggested, you may need to invest in a 1/2 in. router and a router table to make new boards match old boards.

Is it purely an investment, or do you utilize the property occasionally?

in our market here in Oregon its a cottage industry running around and trying to buy redemption rights.. and the folks that do it are doing it purely to shake down those who bid at sale and don't understand how the rights work.or the bigger players will only bid on deals they own the rights to ... there is a 6 month right of redemption.. and the sales are uber competitive.. so the chance that it goes for a number that another investor who may own the redemption rights to  would redeem is remote.. and even if they do they owe you 9% interest.. and any cost you may have fronted to keep the property from getting damaged.. however if you jump in and rehab it you would lose those dollars.the redemption buyers buy the rights by getting the property deeded to them.. usually for 100 to 500 bucks sometimes more if there is massive equity .... and they usually record the deep a day or two before the sale.. then go the sale and see if someone buys it.. then walk up to them waive their deed and try to negotiate to sell the rights.. usually 5 to 10k.. because with the rights you can start your project right away with out them you need to wait 6 months... so it become the cost of money and time equation.and as an aside generally there are 100 sales posted and only 5 to 10 actually go... but it sounds like this one might go if there are no heirs to throw it into BK or they are working on a loan mod of some sort.good luck with it.

Is it purely based on what rates they provide or is investor friendly?