Goals are compliance with HUD inspection requirements, tenant satisfaction, safety and enhanced property value. 

If not, I would prioritize that, especially if the property is truly uninhabitable. 

The only thing it’s missing is data on crime/safety, corporate migration and rent/wage growth.

If you are doing a conventional loan the lender is going to require electrical and plumbing health and safety issues to be repaired and the seller won't fix a thing in this market.

Make sure you are realistic in estimating rehab costs and have a safety margin to ensure that your plan can absorb the inevitable things that will happen.

So by that standard, I can only have 3 leases in place.I've read elsewhere that LA Dept of Building and Safety has indicated that a single-family home can be rented to 5 unrelated parties; so that would allow for 5 leases.By another metric, LA Dept of Building and Safety uses a "2+1" rule to determine maximum occupancy: 2 people per bedroom plus one more.

In any market, a seller will prioritize an offer without contingencies as it is at a lower risk to fall out of contract.

Particularly with a house hack, how much do you value your own happiness and safety?  

But again, by having 3 units, are their additional safety factors, i.e. fire escape, sprinkler, access issues that will dramatically increase the cost over duplex setup.

Here are my thoughts:1) Try to find a "nicer" duplex that maybe just needs carpet and paint as sometimes sellers get nervous with accepting an FHA offer due to the Appraisal calling out safety items like peeling paint.2) Since you're going to need more opportunities with how competitive the market is regardless of where you're looking, make sure you work with your agent to see how many homes have SOLD in your criteria in the past 3 months to give you a reasonable estimate of how many opportunities you will get in the next 3 months.