On top of that, sales prices have not yet dropped to reflect such.

That's not a slam on the good folks of Pinal County at all - it's a simple supportable fact that Maricopa County offers better services for taxes paid, and the house values in the Maricopa County addresses in Queen Creek reflect that.

Furthermore, the smaller the market the more the data is stale (and hence, not reflective of reality).

So the rents you receive today may actually reflect property prices 5 or 7 years ago.

If you project joy into the mirror, it reflects joy right back to you.

My understanding is even though the purchase contract bears my personal name, the title company can draft paperwork that will allow the deal to be closed in the LLC given I will be reflected as a partner in that LLC.

As @Todd Dexheimer and others have mentioned, the bigger you look the easier it will be to get financing and the terms will start to reflect like 4-unit type terms. 

Rush assignments will command a higher fee and more experienced appraisers will often reflect higher fees than newly licensed appraisers.No to the specifics, residential multi family properties (2 to 4 units) have a higher appraisal fee than single family homes. 

There are some areas on the East side that are great, there are also pockets with high crime and it reflects in the numbers you are mentioning. 

With HUD their attitude is that they will simply sell it to someone else who might be a bigger sucker, or someone who will put in a bid reflecting all of these inspection issues.