If your a cash basis taxpayer you can’t take the loss until realized.  

Over the years, with personal investment alongside investments from family and friends, I’ve been able to build a small portfolio of apartment buildings with a focus on cash flow through strong operations.

Even the funding alone is easier since you now have a cash flowing property that can help you fund your seed money faster. 

It just didn't seem like it would be worth my time or money. 

I can't speak too much to the market on the Westside, but as far as affordability on the West Coast Spokane is worth looking into.

The house I will get is in a lower income area, currently worth $95-100k, and she still owes about $25k on it.

I own a property worth $200k.

I'll usually eat $100 - $200 worth of touch-up cleaning for a long-term tenant.

In my home market of Florida, our insurance rates have made it much harder to have positive cash flow on a CRE deal.

The only way to know if your idea is worth doing from a wealth building standpoint is to do the math:  What is the cost to acquire?