It's to give notice to the homeowner that in order for those things to get the longest life, and work properly, that they (the homeowner) has a responsibility to maintain them.

Local properties seem easier to maintain, and less risky to own.

I had to rent a storage unit for my tools and materials to do repairs, and I had to pay someone to use their shop to actually work on things (for my business: repairs, maintainance things. etc...)

sounds like maintaining the property.

Duplexes in my neighborhood get pretty much the same rental yield as a SFR assuming you were to buy one now (5% with a varian of a few decimals), if your neighborhood is like mine, you might as well just rent it out as a SFR if you are getting the same yield and maintain the liquidity of your property, as I generally find duplexes a little harder to sell compared to a SFR in my area.

I will definitely take a look into FHA funding because i do plan on living in one unit in order to learn the business and give myself a strong understanding of what goes into maintaining a property and the costs that will arise.

The seller stopped maintaining it since he decided to get out.

Cleaned concrete with diamond bit floor maintainer.

I, personally, favor Equity's model, although full disclosure: I am biased because my company does a good amount of business with their Seattle portfolio.What they are doing currently, is shedding their outlying, sub-urban properties and concentrating on maintaining/upgrading their high-rise, urban core buildings.

This way, given our market, we should be able to churn 4 or so deals a year while maintaining nearly the same stating capital of $100k after each re-fi.