The effort I'd have to put in the 2 properties just wasn't anything worth while compared to the 240k property. 

Find out how much the city utilities and taxes are compared to property prices and rental prices (craigslist is useful for checking rental prices), and then see where you want to start investing with the best return on investment. 

Hi All,I am flipping a bungalow into a purpose-built two apartment home.

Or is there a strategy to splitting them up into different LLCs for different states for tax purposes?

Due to the specialization of the plumbing and electrical, etc, I will have an above average outlay in cash compare to office/retail space. 

Finding some attractive looking deals, I'm an out of state investor, looking to buy and hold for rental/cash flow purposes, how has this area changed over the years/performed for people?

I've never considered purposely using M2M leases this way.

I wrote the above for informational purposes.

This would give you a more standard metric to compare apples to apples. 

You have to use your best judgement on what it would be worth after checking out all of the recently solds you can find and comparing them to your subject property.