Me personally, it really is not a concern of mine if the market goes up or down because we buy properties for the long term that generally have value add and cash flow.

If your main concern is the credit hit I would not worry about it too much as it takes 3-4 months at most to recover.  

We love to learn and in no way believe we are experts so feel free to voice concerns or chime in with suggestions.If there is other individuals out there who have moved from a state similar to Illinois to Florida feel free to speak up with what you’ve done, learned, or any information that could be helpful.Thanks!

My thought is that your income and expenses are extremely close.

You could choose conservative investments (low cash flow, high appreciation) that are extremely likely to 1031x. 

That happened to me, I took on a project that was extremely overbearing.

Socialism as far as I'm concerned...

What concerns should I be aware of that are common with duplexes?

One concern I would have is the durability of those rents.

The Columbus market is extremely competitive and deals are hard to come by...It's just a matter of what you're comfortable with.Here is a good resource: https://columbusregion.com/market-research/rankings-and-accolades/