Hi, I am new at this residential real estate investment. Looking to buy my first quad/triplex. I will be living in one unit and renting the others out. When calculating cap, and other deal analysis criteria, none of them talks about how to assess the property in terms of its appreciation based on structural quality such as brick exterior versus vinyl. While I can get information on this question online, such as brick is obviously more durable and long lasting have a better resale value than vinyl, I'm still struggling to make the decision on which property to go with.

There is a quadplex vinyl exterior property for 210 per unit versus brick exterior property with wooden deck in the backy for 230 per unit in middle Tennessee. Of course the brick is more expensive due to its obvious fact that it's made of brick and wood deck otherwise the interior is pretty much similar in both properties. Due to current market interest rates, I have a possibility of minimal cash flow with a vinyl property however with the brick property, I'm barely even breaking even.(If I manage triplex my self then I won't be in negative cash flow). After breaking down the pros and cons the one thing I'm not unable to estimate is the appreciation difference between brick versus vinyl property and resale value so my question to experience investors is what would you recommend investing in for appraisal? I don't mind not having cash flow as I do have other lines of income however, I definitely don't want to go in negative and I do want my property to appraise over the period of time well and not give me too much maintenance headache.

I appreciate any and all constructive suggestions. Thank you for your time.