After doing quite a bit of research and reading multiple articles/blog posts on BP we have decided that purchasing a duplex is the best route for our financial goals!

Another interesting Los Angeles RE article. http://www.ladowntownnews.com/news/the-rising-pric...

lolhttp://www.wsj.com/articles/brooklyns-most-expensi...

This is what the article explains:The Changsha-based company spent 4½ months fabricating the building's 2,736 modules before construction began.

Also, affordable rental housing shortage in Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Colorado and Utah, as well as California and Florida.http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2015/05/01/more-americans-spending-at-least-half-their-pay-on-housing

@Jon Klaus - the article in the link you posted does not say 50% of income goes toward rent; it says 50% of income goes toward housing, where housing is rent plus utilities.

In my textbook there are samples of contracts, and I'm reading them through and through, even the tiny print on the back, and there are two clauses which confuse the hell out of me.2079.18 reads:No selling agent in a real property transaction may act as an agent for the buyer only, when the selling agent is also acting as the listing agent in the transaction.2079.22 reads:Nothing in this article precludes a listing agent from also being a selling agent, and the combination of these functions in one agent does not, of itself, make that agent a dual agent.How are these two clauses not contradictory?

I recall seeing an article about one of those places closing down here in the next few years, do you think it will have a negative impact on the rental market?

Very interesting article @Matthew Schroeder.  

Sure you can adjust the percentage up or down depending on your market, but if your goal is to invest for cash flow, then it seems like you need to meet a certain baseline rent ratio before an investment will warrant further consideration.If that rule is met as a screening criteria, then you dig in and start running the more detailed numbers to determine if the returns are actually there to make the investment worthwhile.I will eventually write an article on this, but I have an old member blog post that explains why I find the 2% rule so offensive here.