If my target would be low income residents, are there any grants, tax credits, or funds available to help me with the conversion? 

something that seems to surprise new investors is that transacting real estate is expensive.in Pittsburgh transfer taxes are 5%, usually split between buyer and seller. 

The tax advantages of buying/holding gas stations are pretty great.Many of the components of gas stations including pumps, tanks, external parking areas, and other equipment are classified as either 5 or 15 year property so you can bonus depreciate a lot of it (minus the land value) and get significant deductions in year 1.With the 2025 bonus depreciation rate at 40%, a $1 million gas station acquisition could still lead to $100K+ in year 1 deductions depending on the specifics of your deal.

I can do that through charging points, but since I'm getting it at a lower rate than you could as a consumer, I prefer to mark up the rate while still being lower than most others in the market.

Baselane has the added advantage of synching with your Schedule E you'll use at tax time to file your taxes.

In addition cash flow is taxed annually.  

@Shiloh Lundahl Awesome, thank you ok so having that 10-20k as a buy in is important, to first getting into it.... it helps get those first deals started.... just as an aside : I am also just starting out doing finder's fee methods - with tax foreclosure overages refunds, and assett recovery / state funds refunds... so I think those can help me to get that intial 10-20,000.... it might take me some months, but I think I can get there.... that's my initial plan, at leastAnd if I can get that saved up, then that will help me break into deals....

Most people who are affected by rent tend to be on lower socioeconomic rungs anyway and thus have less political heft to swing around.

Also, how does one assess whether or not one can turn a profit after paying principal/interest, insurance, and taxes each month?

I've had them long enough to keep pushing up rents so that I am at the top of my niche, but know not to exceed it because I'm just about at the point where if I raised rents another $50-$100 I'd be crossing over into the lower end for larger units.