What would a taxation model look like in this scenario?

Looking on Zillow it looks like the only affordable places are reseda or pacoima or Lancaster. 

You'll also find some clients that like to juice the commission on performance metrics, similar to what you posted, but that is also relatively rare as most owners feel if they're paying you north of $300,000, you should just try to get top dollar with strong terms.

Consequently the students do not fair so well.

(Ask this of the company as well as the property manager who will be managing your property)- How many units do you currently have under management? 

Verifying last 2 years of rental history and income extremely important to find the “best of the worst”.Make sure you understand the Class of properties you are looking at and the corresponding results to expect.The City of Detroit has 183 Neighborhoods we’ve analyzed.PM us if you’d like to discuss this logical approach in greater detail!

More than likely going to have to capitalize the bathroom renovation and depreciate it.

We have been looking a duplexes and the numbers just don't seem to come together well.  

I agree that Vegas will likely be much bigger.

It sounds like your tax professional would have grouped these actvlivities based on the situation you are describing.