My takeaway was never to tell the insurance about a loss unless you actually do have a loss.  

Understanding the market enables you to spot good bargains and steer clear of potential loss-making regions.

Or just sell it at a loss… I need some guidance here, I know very little about real estate investing other than I know I’ll be losing money after maintenance and paying a property manager.

How big of a loss can I handle up front, without stopping? 

(which has gotten way, way harder over the last few years.)

We started an LLC last year and are about to file our first return for 2024.

There’s no real way to create phantom losses without running into issues with the IRS, and you could end up losing important tax benefits.

@Gregory Wilson  - partnership return compliance has become insane in the last several years.

Still, I think you'd find it difficult to find one that would be a good long-term investment unless you had another ~20-30 years to go, it's at least cash neutral, and you don't plan to hold it too long (to avoid too much investment loss and before you get to the point where it's unsellable because of too few years left); that's another way of saying that maybe it suits your cash needs in the near-term or is at least less of a pill to swallow than other options until you find something that's more of a sensible long-term play

I did a punch last week with the builder.