So many options that we are at a loss.

Tax StrategyWhile liquidating the brokerage account may trigger capital gains taxes, strategies like staggered withdrawals or tax-loss harvesting can help minimize the impact.

Passive Activity Losses: Are there ways to offset my W-2 income with rental losses, or do I need to qualify as a real estate professional for that to work?

If area or units aren't good enough to easily attract sec 8 a lot of these rougher area investments turn into huge losses.

That's two months of lost rent and utilities ($5,600) plus $2,000 in cleaning/repairs for a total loss of $7,600.

Its great that you have saved some money and have a desire but investing involves a risk of loss.

Many areas have experienced a moderate slowdown last year, and are temporarily (my opinion) stable, and seem poised to soften from the high prices we have seen in the past couple of years. 

Proceed with caution and make sure you create enough room for value loss.My client recently had this issue and I told him only way to take this is if seller repairs it and lowers price significantly for value loss.

For the 15 + years I’ve been on BP I’ve seen this reasoning, though there’s less of it in the last 5 years.

My basic underwriting making some standard assumptions on HOA expenses, 20% down, 7% interest rate, 30 year mortgage, utilities, supplies, and maintenance costs shows a loss of about $22k per year if you are self managing.