Cost of taxes, insurance, flood insurance, avg cost per square foot for homes, cost to build new per square foot, vacancy rates, rent rates per bedroom, school districts, crime rates, top ten job providers and dig into their trends (growing, expanding, contracting, single source, etc), find the type of investment properties you want to focus on and learn all about that demo.

Willing the expand my budget slightly, however. 

Maybe they're expanding on a current portfolio in the area and it would add much more value to them in the back end. 

-framing cavity's (wall floor and ceiling) should be completely filled with thermal fiber or roxul.if you have a fire door hopefully it is a insulated one and not just a hollow steel shell. a door with a threshold would be best so sound doenst transfer through gap under regular door.if the units are vibrating a lot they should sit on rubber dampers.theres 2 areas to focus on when trying to limit noisevibrations from one material through another like foot steps above or vibrating machinerythe other is airborne sounds like talking and speakersthere are many products available to help you reduce the noise unfortunately it sounds like you may have to invest some more money and time being they are already rehabbed

Landlords must also keep in mind as an area improves, property taxes are likely to increase to pay for new services such as expanded fire and police.The biggest difficulty for landlords will be dealing with existing tenants, who may be nervous about the changes or if they will have higher rents in the future.

I’d like to expand my portfolio in Duluth. 

This is really making it hard for a newbie to get started, I'm expanding my search often. 

I've always been interested and have read a few books on the subject,  trying to expand my knowledge before I take action! 

Hi fellow investors,I`ve been flipping in Ohio for the last 2 years, and now I`m expanding into Upstate NY. 

Assuming you go FHA, your down payment is back down to 3.5% which expands that purchasing power, and with FHA you have to pass the self-sufficiency test on 3-4 unit properties.