I'd buy it somewhere in a cash-flowing mid-south market.

GO LOOK at HOUSEs, Analyze deals and somewhere along the line, you will find one.My group - Mid-America Association of Real Estate Investors is a great place to start - next meeting is the annual vendor trade show on July 9th, but there are several other learning events before that. 

I’m a former business owner and commercial RE broker; presently in the clergy and investing in multi family in the mid-west to support my elderly father and disabled cousin.

Since then things have not gone as smoothly as I'd like so I wanted to reach out to other investors to see if its something I'm doing, the area, my PM, etc...I closed on the property in mid-Sept, it needed very little to get it ready for the market, it was officially on the market in early Oct.

If cycle goes downward mid-project you have to be able to hold on until the next upcycle and that requires extremely deep pockets.

We're in our early-mid 30's. 

Alas, borrowers occassionaly have a lower Mid FICO than they stated/thought when completing our loan application.For long term loans, we, for instance, have a hard minimum requirement of 650 Mid FICO for the loan to proceed.To know your score we need to pull it.Best wishes.

I suspect you'll be closer to $100/month.As @Brandon Cooper pointed out, property management is usually 10% of GSR.I shoot for deals that cash flow $150-200/unit/month and have a mid-teens CoC ROI or better.

Currently one is on the market with an asking price of $1,500,000+ In the 9 Bay Area counties the only county where you could stay in the mid $400's on a duplex is Vallejo.

Looking out  at the mid west for what exactly?