Seriously, it's important.And as mentioned above, the amount of rent you receive on multi-family properties is based on 12 month rental comps.  

If you want to do MTR, that gives you a shot at increasing your rents and supporting ownership of a higher priced property.  

I personally would put my properties in a LLC. 

Quote from @Matthew Hull: How do multifamily properties (2 to 4 units) appreciate compared to single-family homes?

Both of our properties have about 100k in equity in them so we were thinking about using getting a HELOC on the duplex rental property and use that money for the down payment on the next property.

And sorry that you are dealing with a vacant property for such a long time.

It would depend on what class of property / tenant you're targeting and how much you have to invest.

When refinancing, do you normally have a tenant in place before the appraisal, or refinance while the property is still vacant?

I'll work with an attorney to assist with drafting that.Q2: Yes, I'll talk to my CPA but we'll most likely hold the property for at least 1 year under the LLC given our timeline to design, permit, build and sell the property, meaning I should avoid short-term capital gains.  

In such situations, the best way to proceed is to do your own searches and then contact the listing agents of the properties you're interested in.