Current financial statements and of proposed transferee and its principals, along with credit reports, real estate experience and background for each 3.

I bought some property in Oakland and Richmond during the financial crisis- but I agree, things are a little hot in the Bay right now..

Anything above that range will be outside the financial grasp of most tenants so it will be hard to fill vacancies.

So should I:a) mail to the financially distressed homeowners anyway b/c they may not understand their optionsb) mail to absentee ownersc) mail to high equity ownersd) mail to probatese) you have a better idea!

Given that we are carrying ALL of the financial risk, I am having a hard time seeing why this would be reasonable or fair.

(just expressing what I would do, not what I think you should do - it's your business) My goal would be get out of the situation as quickly and painlessly as possible and I would not sweat the financial impact very much. 

This is committing financially and emotionally to an actual real life decision.

@Katie Haney  careful that price range and tenant range is for experts in the local market generally.. out of state folks stand a very good chance of having some pretty rough financial times .. take your 50k and buy something for 150k you will thank your self over time. there is a reason a duplex would sell that low in todays market.. the market is pricing for risk.. when you live out of market your risk already goes up... there are plenty of better buys out there .. than a duplex at 50k..

Our current residence is paid off and we have no debt. 

There are a lot of financial planners out there who will tell you to pay off student loan debt before investing in RE.