Documenting these inspections thoroughly is crucial, as it provides a clear record of any issues that arise.If the inspection reveals significant damage, you may need to discuss potential remediation costs with the tenants, reminding them that the lease holds them financially accountable for damages.

If the duplex is selling for $700K and the units are equal (your accountant can walk you through that), then you would be purchasing $350K of investment real estate and $350K of primary residence, like @Michael Plaks said.

Either offer them an equal partnership in everything or offer them 10-12% interest if you’re new, maybe 8-10% if you have a good track record.

Similarly, adding units doesn't automatically make an investment safer; it simply multiplies the points of failure.Bottom line: multi‑family doesn’t automatically equal more reliable income—in fact, it often does the opposite.For over 17 years, we've delivered more than 600 investment properties using this process: start by defining your financial goal.

We are also considering to purchase land (there is lots of it and pretty cheap) and build with a possibility of 100% construction loan (so just 20% down for land which may be equal to $40K for $200K 3 or 4 acres) the build out will be about 2 to 2.5 mil.  

It's a great, landlord friendly city with strong economic fundamentals.Since you're investing from California, the most crucial first step is to get really specific about your investment target before you hire anyone.

The time log is absolutely crucial for yourself (and if you have a spouse, you can include their time too).

;)Where we disagree is your statement that "so the new property must have an equal amount or more 1245 property." 

We just need a few tweaks here and there, like this one: The Equal Opportunity for All Investors Act of 2025 (H.R. 3339) is currently working its way through Congress.

Getting started is as always the hardest part - building out the logistics, legal bits (for import duties, etc), marketing (be it a website, direct b2b marketing or Amazon) and sourcing the right suppliers are all equally difficult (yet interesting) tasks.