I would sell before the expenses push you into serious negative cash flow.Unless your rent is in the $2000/month range your are headed down a rabbit hole.

Listen what I would do is drive around the neighborhood you can afford around 6pm if the bus stops have lots of people making there way from work there is one money to be made and two a community of decent ppl there I'm not sure if u have children if not living in a bad neighborhood isn't always as bad as it seems besides the money you collect in a year or two may propel you toward your real aspirations faster than not making the move and no matter where you buy your choosing the tenant so set a base line of what you will and won't accept and stick to it people live in Baltimore, New York, New Jersey all places that once where **** holes that have taken some major steps toward change but more importantly they made a big bag of money from those horrible hoods

#load of cash burning a hole in my pocket, enough cash for 4 or 5 of these cheap houses. 

Hello BP,I've not had this issue with any of my rentals (knock on wood).  This property was a duplex I was thinking of purchasing.  The unit is about 1000 sq ft of carpet.  The carpet has to be replaced because it is ...

His contribution would almost purely be monetary but we both agree that I should have some of my own money invested as well.  

Now the scary thing is I just heard is that they are thinking of eliminating this tax loop hole for investors. 

What will they do to fill that hole?

Feel feel to poke as many holes into the plan as you want!

If your total monetary losses can be counted using "hundreds" I'm betting it won't be worth the fight to recover.

I kept hearing from people that their first response team is always on hold or would schedule something a long time off to come which in some cases like a hole in the roof you can't wait.