You'd also need to establish a budget, and secure a master insurance policy. i THINK you need to do these things before reaching out to your municipality to have it converted officially with the county or city but they would be the first ask for steps in order.i will add, this would make financing on these units a bit challenging, as in the mortgage world, at least initially, they would be considered "non-warrantable" condos.

The "non conforming" lending options are actually called NonQM (non qualified mortgages).

No  return has come out.

Non UL electrical, plumbing &HVAC materials.

So you would spend around $25-$30k a month (this was 15 years ago) on police details and require union gate and non union gate if you had non union workforce as well.In DC area, the utility providers are a huge challenge, whether getting permanent power, or water/sewer service etc - good luck.

I don't like the returns but we use regular savings accounts. 

What is the difference between the Taxable Value and the SEV value? 

The loss created by section 179 is limited to your total net taxable income amount from all "active" business income you have, plus any W-2 income. 

Quote from @Trent Reeve: i would think they would have more amenities than a non-condo.I think the reference was how do you stand out from one condo to another when they are all identical, vs how do you compete with single family homes.

@Matt Smith the reality is that Chicago is full of "non-conforming" units.