Both...I recommend having some money lined up so you have confidence moving forward. 

I am confident the Corvallis area will be consistent for the future considering it being the home of OSU and also just a great place to live in general.

The agent indicated he was much relieved and more confident that I would get repairs, consideration, or a mix.

I'm not saying to keep your head in the sand, I am saying to keep chugging away and having confidence in your investment decisions without overreacting. 

I believe this is because he was confident in his ability to make money through real estate.

Once you have this team in place, you should be able to confidently invest in any market.

While I know this was unusual and over the top, it gave my wife and I the confidence to go ahead and pull the trigger. 

It's an investment you make once and will be able to confidently use them over and over again going forward. 

Generally, I'm looking for a duplex that I can be reasonably confident that I can rent out for at least what it costs me every month (principal, interest, property taxes, home insurance, mortgage insurance), and hopefully a bit more.And generally, anything else I should be thinking of?

I found that my past experience in these types of properties as a former licensed plumber and a 19 veteran mortgage banker has given me the experience and confidence to improve the performance of the project.