The building represented good value and is consistent with my focus on $2M-$5M total cost projects where there is a lack of natural market participants in the Philadelphia market.

They willingly participated in cutting you out.

Hello all,I want to participate in a tax sale in Maryland.

Be a DON'T WANT-ER - always be willing and ready to walk if you can't get a good deal - And understand that you can always come back to that seller later and begin Second Stage NegotiationsAsk the 7 wordsAlways consider a subject to offerAlways ask for seller financingUse the Study Period Clause with right of possession to control properties without cashOffer seller participation - this is a great way to close dealsOffer something other cash - a note secured by your other equities, an unsecured note, a Principal only mortgage (using this technique you can offer more for the building since you are not paying interest - and as you know a direct reduction mortgage will pay off much faster.

Combined my wife and I make around $270,000 which sounds like a lot but in the SF Bay area its barely getting by.

I see the IRS regs about rental activities being defined as passive, but I don't see anything about a lower rate.I just see that this "passive activity" distinction subjects us to "passive activity loss rules", which limit our ability to offset other types of income with net passive losses.But even that limitation is negated for us because we fall into the "active participation" exception, so we can offset our regular earned taxable income dollar-for-dollar with losses from our rental (if I understand the regs correctly).

These passive sydications should generate passive losses for most people, those exceptions being folks who qualify for REPS AND are properly participating in and electing the rental activity 

.- Understand the areas that are most in demand for renters are likely the areas where owner occupants begin to push purchase prices to the point where the property barely cash flows as an investment at first.

But let’s say you buy a property for fair value, and it just barely cash flows or you just break even.

Is that part of the definition of over leverage, with rents barely covering my monthly expenses?