They ignore superb research long produced by the Illinois Policy Institute.

However at this time I have about half of my portfolio in duplexes and the headaches they seemingly produce are worth it. 

My instincts tell me that they are watered down information produced to sell higher priced programs.

I will keep grinding and hopefully land a few solid deals that can produce some positive results. 

As one example here in the Bay Area where I live if I found a property I could in fact purchase and generate a cash flow of 5% I might think that is great but in other areas it may be common for properties to generate from 8% to 15% and there may be many properties that will produce this result instead of very very few.

You could approach a commercial/asset based lender and they may give you a loan based more on the ability of the property to produce income versus your DTI.

It may seem like competition is a bad thing but in actuality if you join up with an office with many top producers you have the ability to help them with open houses and can also get mentoring help on your first couple of deals.As you start getting experience and start making more sales, these traditional brokers like C21, Coldwell, etc... will give you better splits.  

But I was curious if someone might walk me through the procedure they've used when a tenant moves out, as far as clean-up and prep for the next move-in?

On the contrary, I know of several who are not only fantastic people but also massive producers.

If the property is producing income, she could likely continue to hold the property in the IRA and meet the distribution requirements.