If the property is permitted to have 3 units, then you have to consider finished ceiling heights, window sizes (unsafe to have "basement" sized windows for an apartment), flooding potential, placement of the mechanicals, size and nature of the entry, whether or not there are 2 ways to exit and a number of other practical considerations and considerations dictated by the laws and codes of the area.

There are times where there is considerable equity in a property, and the owner loses it to foreclosure, which is sad.

When it came time to pull the trigger on a property I heard nothing until it was far too late.

Take into consideration the mortgage, taxes, insurance, HOA fees, and cash reserves for home repairs or replacements.

The fund uses no leverage, so for a SDIRA, it does not trigger UBIT.

So are far as your cities and plan - both seem inline with what others in your situation might also do, maybe looking into El Paso ( I think MST part of TX) and Phoenix areas might be worth looking into as well for you- both landlord friendly states.The reason I went into so much detail however about landlord friendly- was just something to take into consideration as you narrow down your options and to keep  in mind as you move forward and compare purchase price points, taxes etc. 

It's the only way to understand Investing in any kind of Investment.Of the 500 students who took the class, Adults like you and me, some without College degrees, some with PH.D.s a full range of rich and poor..... only about 30 students were able to get past the 3rd Level exam, which basically made you calculate the Internal Rate of Return of any investment, especially Real Estate.Of that 30 students, about 20 of them pulled the Trigger as their Analysis proved that there was merit in buying an Investment Property, particularly in Brooklyn and close by.One student in particular, made $2 Million, again, on a Clinton Hill property.Most of the other students, made somewhere between $50k and $1 Million.Some of those 20 are now my partners.

"Quite a bit of work" can mean considerable renovation budgets, plus potentially large, expensive, unexpected items that come up in the construction process.Half of a duplex is also an odd situation, but that may be more Canadian than US real estate.It's really a matter of risk vs potential reward.

This is due to the way REIT dividends are taxed as ordinary income as opposed to capital gains, this makes them a prime consideration for a Roth account and will almost guaranteed significantly outperform the broad S&P500 over an investors lifecycle.  

What are some major considerations?