(There was just a great BP podcast about a guy doing this in Seattle.)Actually, there's a trend here now of new-construction duplexes with huge bed and bath counts, like 5 bed/5 bath's and 4 bed/4 bath's.Reading your bio, I feel like buying in PHX isn't playing to your strengths, you know?

Unfortunately that is the trend in this space right now. 

House is on a corner and has two small driveways - both are both in pretty rough shape.

It was in bad shape so we took a private loan from my parents to renovate 2/3 units, and have been doing work on the property ourselves despite not being licensed (I have done exterior painting, drywall repair, light fixture replacement, small things like that).

I look at crime maps online and percentage of violent to non-violent crimes and frequency trends.

If your plumbing roof and windows are in good shape what else would you have to fix when you are flipping tenants every 5-10 years?

A lot of the HGTV shows have some great ideas and designs, and it's become so popular that it largely seems to influence the trends as much as it reflects them.3.

Like people, they come in all shapes & sizes.

One place that comes to mind are the real trends list.

The property is in good shape, it's livable.