#1)I was at my property yesterday for some maintenance and I noticed the tenant did not clear the sidewalk or steps of ice like the lease says is their responsibility.

I suggest making your decision on that number and if that's acceptable, then the appreciation is just icing on the cake.

The RE side of things is cash flow icing on the cake.I guess what I am trying to say is do not discount your options investing in 401k early, especially if you are still in your 20s, 30s.

I have an ice dam at one of my properties that did some damage due to lack of insulation so I was planning on going down to Home Depot and getting some insulation and the blower this weekend.

I send my ladies $10, pretty often, and tell them to go to the beauty parlor. $10 goes a long way in India, or the Philippines.

Appreciation, tax savings, etc are just icing on the cake in my eyes.  

I could hire a realtor at no cost to locate properties, and hire a project manager/GC to manage rehabs for me at far less total cost than 50% of the enterprise (unless the enterprise itself is pretty shaky and then giving away equity is like giving ice cubes to a resident of the North Pole). 

It runs about ~$2/sqft of the home and keeps it like an ice box.  

Appreciation should be the "icing on the cake" so to speak when purchasing.

All you can really do is watch the ice floe move back and forth between the 2 rivers that feed the lake.