It is a duplex that my girlfriend and I are going to house hack..exciting stuff!! 

Lots of stuff in your post. 

hey @r metzgar, i'm not sure i can add to the thoughts here, as everyone has thrown out some good stuff, but if you need to know more about Fresno feel free to message me.  

Around here a lot of them are quietly selling off their stuff.   

As you get into this stuff here in Cleveland you'll probably run across a lot of questions.

Trust me i am very aware that stuff like this should be taken care of befor paying, that problem is most definitely assist, it's solution time now.

That capex stuff still needs to be considered and can easily add up to $3000/yr if you are budgeting this to be a long-term buy and hold.  

Any chance it may be a good investment for HELOC and stuff?

Sometimes I ask myself, “Am I doing to much” and try to remind myself that this is a place for a tenant (they will not care for it like you will) and not myself... the internal struggles are real, but wealth in real-estate can be created with cinderblocks or stones, laminate or granite... i prefer stones and granite, but as long as we get there why complain...

If they are new to the game then dig deeper into their property management background and see if it passes the smell test.As for questions, the basic business stuff like insurance, are they properly licensed, have a company formed properly, their rates, the timeline to do repairs, their experience with collecting rent from tenants like yours, etc.