There are definitely benefits to going larger with regard to operational efficiencies.

Essentially, up front you want to know what you can afford.

I’m assuming that they will receive any tax benefits arising from owning the property versus our company on title.

I’m assuming that this arrangement benefits them over us tax wise.

Either direction you choose will benefit you.

When I bought the home I was not interested in cash flow, just pay it off and later reap the benefits.  

Older buildings what will kill you is underestimaing essential capital expenditures like roof, heating systems etc.

As far as out-of-state investing, you might want to check out the article I wrote about that: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/12/23/investing-out-of-state-essential-items-to-vet/

The law will enforce the lease agreement, as long as it legally abides by your jurisdiction's landlord laws.For future tenants, adding a type of "escape clause" only benefits the tenant.

- Building is nice, seller essentially bought it as a single family, rehabbed it and converted it to a 2 family, but has some issues i wanted to fix but seller simply gave a 5k credit without fixing anything i asked for.