I plan on being a “passive” investor, specifically looking at duplex’ or single family homes to buy and rent out.I wanted to evaluate with you all a potential duplex that I came across.

After two months with little progress and lots of money spent we hired a handyman.

I trust them but still wouldn't want to take full responsibility for the mortgage without any legal protection.Our lawyer suggested that we talk to lenders (in progress) and get under contract before officially forming the partnership LLC.

Here is the link Real Estate Tools I use the iPad version of the property evaluator App to model all my new and existing properties.

Do your evaluation and stick to your guts and math.

That's great progress! 

The sellers are requesting what I consider an unusually short due diligence period to evaluate the business side -- only 20 days.  

Even if your estimates are accurate, property still won't even meet the 1% rule.It would be one thing if after all the work, rent was 1.25% to 1.5% of the total investment.Then it might be worth the risk.The other issue is the area does not sound "ripe" for future increases.Is it in an area in the path of progress?

I am an overseas investor and am searching for RE professionals with expertise in the local area who can assist me to appraise and evaluate potential home purchases.

Keep in mind my strategy is for buy and hold, so I am looking at long run factors.I evaluate areas with either 1.New growth that is rife with young professionals or 2. established real estate value that will likely only go up. from there, I will run the property though 3 filters: Cap rate, Cash on cash return, and profit margin.