Less decisions on things you do regularly allows you to focus on bigger puzzles to solve.

From someone who has lived in middle TN all my life, the tornado question puzzles me.

And finally the most important piece of the puzzle, turn off "houses for sale" and turn on "Houses Sold".

I think that is the most important piece of this puzzle.

Your agent and your lender can then help verify, that would you are planning on doing will actually work.From there on it is much easier, because you have solved the entire puzzle with only on piece left to plu in: the address of the property.

Either that or I'll work on the puzzles I got in the most recent Mensa newsletter ;)

Just trying to figure out more of the puzzle of this duplex. 

The process starts when a buyer asks that first question and ends when a commitment is made to purchase, close of escrow or cancellation of the purchase agreement.The process is something like a solving a puzzle with the goal of building a complete and accurate profile of the property.

@Douglas Rath since you already have a valuable piece of the puzzle achieved, understanding remodels, costs/work required, etc, your next step is to find an investor and get at least warm interest. 

Once you understand the restrictions then it becomes a puzzle until you find the right design to maximize the square footage of the building.