Yes, wood counters can be damaged by hot pans etc, but so can laminate, which is what you currently have. 

It has come to light that the home has substantial water damage on the 2nd floor due to faulty shower tile and shower pan.

I mean you're not able to have a union guy plunge a toilet for less than $400 in NYC.I always figured estimating in multiple locations would be a nightmare.

Up until now we just said no not interested mainly because we wanted to stick with our investment to see how it panned out.

Would you be willing to wake up at 2 am to fix a leaking toilet for 125 a month?

For Paul, he needs his investments to be just that, an INVESTMENT and NOT another J.O.B. because he's got funky-feet galore to cure, no time for tenants and toilets.

Still, it's a better deal than spending thousands on so-called "leads" that did nothing more than hit a "more info" button while they were sitting on the toilet flipping through listings.If you have the stomach for it (and I didn't), you can try AllTheLeads.com. 

I'm curious to know whether this duplex would meet @Ben Leybovich's $1000 rule — or whether it fails, due to the fact that you have 2 tenants, 3 toilets, etc.

When I check out potential properties, I have no problem going under the house and checking around tub, sink and toilet drainage lines for wood rot/water leak history.

Don't make a decision only based on how numbers pan out in Excel.