If I'm looking at a house for sale on Redfin or Trulia,  how would I know if that a good deal or not, if I don't have the insight that a PM have, in respect to what expenses might be. 

Fear is a much greater motivator than respect.

These properties were probably purchased in the $60k to $80k range.

In my price range I’ve found that moderate renovations will get the job done, bring a decent return and the units can rent at market value.

1% rule is definitely challenging to find in this market and depends on a lot of variables (price range, condition, condo vs single family, neighborhood, town, etc).Going slightly outside of Charlotte (Concord, Gatonia, etc) like @Joshua Davis did.

Class B and A hoods can and do turn into C or B hoods respectively.  

I am also from Staten Island but the prices are from $300,000 and up REO. and you have to paid cash. only those who are in the business for long time can paid it cash.....Look into PA. is good and the prices are withing range that you are looking,  just look a town like Allentown PA.

I live in the Seattle area so 3.5% down on a multi is still way out of my price range as they go for about 800k and above.My thought was to buy a 2-3 bedroom home in the Tacoma area as I can get in with 3.5% down and still be able to easily commute to my job here in Seattle (cheaper and more reliable than taking the ferry if I were to buy in the Kitsap county area).

Here are some of the numbers we were thinking about when considering this property.I don't have a lot of experience estimating construction costs, but it seems like what would be the most worthwhile for this property would be to rebuild into a SFH or a duplex the size and style of the neighboring properties which are estimated on redfin at $667K to $700K (those are 3br/2.5ba and 4br/2.5ba respectively). 

The cracks range in width from hairline to 1/4 of an inch and are larger when viewed in the crawlspace than when viewed from the exterior.