We're already in the red territory so from here on we're minimizing losses.

Maybe its class of units, but i would always err on the side of believing tenant and helping them (esp if they paid rent) - i mean even if they never paid you for the 2 days of utilities - that is a very minimal amountTenants will treat you as you treat them.

To start, I'm  looking for turn-key duplexes (minimal renovation/fixes are okay) for a buy & hold strategy in the price range of $150-200k. 

I saw a similar post on biggerpockets and it seemed to indicate nothing like payoff letters are necessary for credit cards in order to close on a sale.  

However, since it is a bungalow, the space I could work with is minimal and the cost is high.

Buying would indicate they may need cash. 

If you are a long term Buy & Hold Investor, there is now reason not to lock in (Artificially Suppressed Interest Rates/FED) current rates and minimize issues down the road (3.

We are seeing about a 40% cash-on-cash return from our real estate investments in our markets with very minimal risk.

Even multi families have super compressed cap rates which while is still a good defensive strategy, really leaves you with minimal margins (I gave up on commercials already since we’re seeing 5-5.5% which is ridiculous). 

You will likely continue to get about $2K more each year.I minimal amount, about $3K, can be used against W-2 if your W-2 is not too large.