The only thing the soft rate increase does is prolong your losses.

Having a wide base of knowledge will help as you look for your first deals.Read about creative financing (no/low money down), read about hard money, soft money, and all the other money feelingsBasically, read read read!

I’m a ground-up high end home developer and a “standard” home on a flat lot, excluding soft-costs (holding costs, architect, permits, etc), my at-cost construction would be between $180-$200sf in LA County today.

Also, more than one dish towel would be helpful.

We moved out to the Chicago suburbs for work and to have room to start a family and held onto it as an investment property. 1 bed, 1 bath 'soft loft' in the heart of River North with parking, storage, and good building amenities.

Any of these would be no different than leaving towels, toilet paper etc.As for decorating, I would think that as you referenced it, then yes it would be like you are running a venue.

Additionally, the GP, claimed that the Rental Market was soft and couldn't find Tenants for the building.

To those that are urging me to throw in the towel, i appreciate your candor,  but i dont give up that quickly or easily. 

As others have said, the best thing to do, is to remind people that noise travels.The problem is that many people, go from a house, to a condo, they assume its going to be just as queit.Then once they hear a very minor footstep, suddenly all hell has broken loose, and they cant live there any more.People are soft, very soft, and need to be reminded of reality.Too many first world problems

An investment makes you money, which means you get more money coming in than going out.The trouble is, you have to count not only the hard cost to buy (price, rehab, etc... but also the soft costs to operate (insurance, utilities, etc...).