I enjoy doing a lot of the work myself and want to take my investing to another level.

Especially one where the house needs a lot of repair...Mailing to a blanket list of absentee owners seems like a waste of time/money because you are mailing to a lot of houses that may be in good shape and could be sold on a retail level. 

Mohawk makes an entry level one.

I'm assuming this does what you want, at least on a very basic level.

You're talking straight up "C" level working class neighborhood at that price range.  

And you are not giving credit for the fact that an agent can negotiate down commissions or that excess contributions are commissioned at a lower level.

Single-family fits my comfort level, but multi-family numbers look better due to the little amount of reserve cash and wanting better cash flow to start.  

No way to predict that kind of disaster nor its impact.In Calif, we have exposure to earthquakes, even more than you at the upper end of the Cascades, and frequently have to deal with seismic certifications. 

It is a 2/1 duplex, upper/lower units.  

Become a live in flipper, you buy your first home a fixer upper (out dated ugly, but still good for an FHA loan), fix it while you live in it for about 2 to 3 years, now you have increased the equity/value, sell it cash out the equity get your next fixer upper put down only the minimum for the down payment,  live in it for 2 or 3 years fixing it as you go and repeat, you are now making your "snowball" of money bigger.