Definitely agree that there can be a super healthy relationship between Realtor & property managers, especially when they each specialize only in their area of expertise...

Charlotte has been a solid growth market over the past decade with strong job creation, in-migration, and a healthy rental demand, but because of that demand, prices have gone up quite a bit and a lot of investors are finding it tougher to consistently hit the 1% rule there.

High quality partners in a market with relatively low purchase costs and healthy rents.

I would guess you are forgoing pretty good appreciation on your duplex for cash flow, and therefore you need to make a pretty healthy spread on cash flow to overcome, what I assume will be, a much, much lower appreciation on midwest/southern housing. 

Once that first-time discount is gone, one way to keep your margins healthy is to start building a solid team of subcontractors—plumbers, electricians, painters, etc.

Build healthy reserves at closing and agree in advance on what triggers additional contributions so you’re not negotiating in the middle of an emergency repair or a vacancy spike.

But if feasibility checks out and your market shows a healthy condo premium, lining up your docs and improvements now will make the financing easier today and the exit cleaner tomorrow.

-While not immune from price escalation, there has been no indication of price escalation thus far.A couple of other notes:-As mentioned, we visited last month. 

It’s a healthy exercise for me to look back and question my evaluations with the benefit of hindsight, and I think it can also be useful to others. 

.✅ The professional approach:✔️ Automate tax categorization within your accounting system✔️ Allocate a fixed percentage of rental income to a dedicated tax account every month✔️ Review and adjust quarterly to stay aligned with actual obligationsThis isn’t optional — it’s a fundamental discipline for healthy financial management.