Find the office that has plenty of donuts and coffee and lots of people hanging around bs'ing about last night's game, or how their one-and-only contract fell out and are ready to pounce on any breathing body that comes through the door.  

@Jorge Lago also based ouy of Seattle with 14 doors in JAX.

HI Scott,If it were me (since there is no clear cut culprit, and it's not worth T-ing off a possible innocent tenant with a bill),I would simply warn them both verbally (door knocking), not to do this, and say it cost X to fix it, and say if it happens again you will bill them for it (although you don't have to follow through on this). 

I wanna be realistic  with whats out there and what i can get. i check areas like paterson newark etc cause other areas dont seem to cash flow and im not use to them. is it still possible to find a 3 unit to house hack and cash flow at least $200 per door after living in the place for 1 yr ?

If you add an addition, garage, etc then they will reassess.

My plan so far is to go knock on his door and ask him if I can take pictures and just check the place out because I've never been in his half. 

Somebody comes and knocks on the door and asks to look at the house.

Most of the investors I work with shoot for $150-$200 a door, so you make that much with a property matches up and you're getting to cut living expenses for a year.

So that opens up the door to just run this thing out to the endzone myself here and save the commission (could probably even use it as a bargaining chip in negotiations).The issue is that I don't really know that much about the finer details of being a buyers agent (even having bought multiple houses before).

In the situation you're describing it take me 4 days for a 2 bedroom 1.5 bathroom unit unless I'm replacing floor covering in which case it's usually a full week and maybe almost 2 weeks.In 4 days, worst case 5 days, I can get a thorough cleaning and painting, inside and out, even removing doors from hinges if needed.In that time window I can also have a plumber replace a faucet or an electrician replace a bathroom vent fan, minor stuff, if needed.