For someone just starting out the Certified Exchange Specialist designation is a nice one to have. 

A fiduciary will still need to be appointed (and possibly challenged), heirs determined, and time for marshaling assets and dealing with creditor claims factored in.

The parties should agree to cooperate with one another to make sure those funds find the right party.In your case if the management company is the party to the lease then you'll need to review and factor in the agreement between current owner and management company. 

As Sloan mentioned earlier, you'll also need to factor in soft costs, so with hard + soft costs you're probably looking at closer to $200-$215 psf.Your permitting timelines is also idealistic. 

I feel as though we miscalculated something.One unit yields $400 in rent (1 bedroom) and the other yields $800 (3 bedroom).Total Rent: $1,200Duplex Price: $67,000Down Payment: $3,350Repair Estimate: $2,000Closing Cost Estimate: $1,500Total Investment = $6,850We factored in:Mortgage: $340Mortgage insurance (we would have a low down payment): $40Home owners insurance: $67Property tax: $113Vacancy savings: $60CapEx: $60Repairs: $60Lawn/Snow: $120There are no HOA dues.Total costs: $860So, our monthly cash flow should be $340.Annual cash flow $4,080Total Investment $6,850ROI: 59.5%I feel like this return is far too high.Is there something obvious we're missing?

@Michael Ohman   If you're going to BRRRRR you can still do it with a VA Loan.....But utilize the one that's called a US Department of Veterans Affairs Loan.....It's more designed for BRRRRRs 

People just like to nit-pick over the silliest things.Your lease agreement should say, "Landlord and/or his Agent" so that you can designate others to do things on your behalf.

It might weight one location above another if it's already on your list of possibilities for other reasons, but it wouldn't be a determining factor in any way for me.Really, you can do real estate anywhere in some shape or form, so you can move where you want and figure out how to make real estate work there, or move where you want and figure out how to make real estate work for you "long distance".  

You can design the portfolio that best suits your expertise, network and goals.

Your discount factor reflects discount on the price.