I ask because the majority of the homes in my market are all close to a hundred years old and contain the majority of the things found in such homes.

Speaking generally, but I only look at 3/4 unit buildings (duplexes don't make sense), and in the grand scheme of things total number of legal bedrooms is the most important metric as that's ultimately what drives rent roll given that the majority of renters, at least in the gentrifying areas that I target, tend to be recent grads who are sharing an apartment and want to live in the "hot" part of town but can't afford Manhattan proper. 

Conservative projected rent for the 3/1 is $1150.My question is what should be my next major step in the coming 1-2 years?

Two major choices- I am still trying to figure out which would be more profitable, but need help figuring out the numbers on option 2. well, on option 1, as well, but that will be a separate post!

Therefore, due to the housing market crash and the failed launch of our real estate investing business, I decided to return to college and major in Marketing.

A year ago, the average 30-year rate was 4.12 percent; the 15-year average was 3.22 percent: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/average-us-rate-30-year-mortgage-rises-408-32182467 Affordable Housing, Racial IsolationJustice Anthony Kennedy delivered this timely message in the majority opinion, ruling that the law allows plaintiffs to challenge housing policies that have a discriminatory effect — without having to prove that discrimination was intentional: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/29/opinion/affordable-housing-racial-isolation.html?

It's fairly new so I don't need to do any major repairing.

You are setting yourself up for major issues if you fail to educate yourself or find an experienced investor to work with on your first 5 to 15 deals.

Here's what you need to check in both...Job creation with projections and median salariespopulation growth projectionsRE trends...avg DOM, median price, # units sold (sweet spot units 3/2/2), etcquality of schools (greatschoold.org)Major employers in both areas (each area probably has an Economic Development Corp that will have a wealth of canned information)anything else you can think of that helps you compare apples to appleIn addition to the above, I would research the sub-markets within each area.

In good neighborhoods of major northeast cities it is very difficult to find properties that make sense for an investor just starting out.