I've heard varying recommendations in terms of how often you should get them flushed to prevent hard water buildup.

I would say given your location, its going to be tough to fund projects with cash even if you're flush with it.

All major moving parts and appliances in the home seem to be in working order water runs toilets flush theirs heat but no central A/C, fuse boxes with mostly 2 prong outlets.

If you flushed the toilet or ran the water in the bathroom you could watch water run down the plumbing stack in the basement! 

There are few breaks in the competition as either you are competing against retail buyers or cash flushed investors.

As a newbie I have this fear that I would be flushing $1,000+ down the drain.

It's only cost effective to build class A apartments that rent for $1000/month plus so plenty of them are getting built.But at the same time, as others have alluded to there are lots of low-income properties getting built because our local housing authority is flush with cash and also developers are building for the tax credits.So you either have to make enough to pay the highest rents in the market or your income has to be around or a percentage above the poverty level.

When we opened the cleanout it was ¾ full, but it still flowed out when we ran the faucets or flushed toilets.

Max:The basic LED flush-mount fixtures we use are $30 each, very comparable to a traditional socketed, fixture of similar quality ($20 - $25) plus the purchase of LED bulbs.The real savings comes in the maintenance: bulbs cannot disappear and there is far less frequent need to climb ladders to replace bulbs.

@Steve Bracero it is a numbers game but its like flushing 3-4months of research in an area down the drain...It ain't easy ...