Just so's I understand; say I buy house with all cash, no debt for $300k, and sell some years later for $300k (no gain) but on the way I depreciated $100k in some combo of straight line and accelerated depreciation. 

After scouring the market, I was able to get large builder financing and discount incentives that allowed me to buy the property at below retail price and get good financing terms.

So to Bob's point, I hope you see that nothing is "straight forward".  

I chose it because of the low price with the Bigger Pockets discount. 

Banks and credit unions can also offer flexibility for investors that engage in strong relationship-building strategies, offering discounts and solid loans in exchange for borrowers willing to use the institution for other purposes (savings accounts, etc.).

If the seller has already discounted the property considerably to justify the work needed, then you have to take that into consideration.If the seller is trying to sell the property full price needing repairs that’s a whole different story.

A lot of complexes will have a welcome booklet with lots of discounts they've negotiated for their tenants, this could be one of those. 

Hello Michael, apologies for not getting back sooner. iI actually used rocket mortgage because i had a company discount through work.

But if it's as straight forward as it sounds than I don't think so. 

It is important to purchase at a discount because it likely will sell at a discount in the future and because of the elevated risk associated with unpermitted units.