I kept it vague and hopefully through private chat because there seems to be numerous people and companies involved/interested in the property; and just by chance one of them is apart of the bigger pockets nation, I wanted to keep the specifics off the main forum.  

I am a former USAF guy (with some amrny national guard sprinkled in as well) and we do buy and hold up in South bend but have also bought houses an hour south and have looked as far south as Peru so have a small bit of experience close to your duplex. 

There may be some national trends, but it is always local. 

There are some exceptions where the location has been on a multi decade slide and now starting to appreciate like in certain downtown locations across the nation.

Renting to men or women of straw makes no sense if you ever want to sue to recover damages.

Get this, a newbie dealing with a first property in National Historic District.  

Former Marine Corps Non-Commisioned Officer and Army National Guardsman with over 5 years of proven leadership experience.

Taking a local investor out to lunch or dinner at a nice place should give you so much more local flavor on investing and your goals then a national course that is general in nature. 

BP Nation and specifically BP Canada,Can anyone tell me if it is possible to get Canadians to lend on US real estate using their RRSP?

Is it a local, regional, or national bank?