The appreciation of value in sweat equity was counted towards my down payment.

I don't think that you should change that philosophy that "appreciation is the icing" because if you're counting on it then that can be an issue if things turn.  

Hopefully you show some profit there.In order to count income from the condo that you're moving out of, the lender will most likely require a lease and evidence of receipt of security deposit and first month rent. 

Don't count on a big bank (Wells Fargo, BOA, etc.) to get the job done.

This is sort of dead money because I am now paying a pref return on this money even though it's not being put to work on a count of I can only renovate units as they turn over.The other options are to renovate units with the property cash flow which seems like the wrong way to go about it - and that still doesn't alleviate the problem of property renovations eating into CoC returns though it solves the problem of "dead money".The last solution I can think of is to raise the money year by year as you need it which presents other problems.

You may want to consider a slider where you have to account for a high count of CAPEX/maintenance in YR1 to handle a majority of the issues, or go back to your seller and say the age of X is Y, and needs to be replaced, and it'll cost Z, so you'll take $ off to pay for it.Other costs to bear - township/city costs (licenses, inspections, COs, registrations, etc.), common electric, water/sewer, garbage fees, tolls/gas/mileage, your time, HOA, etc.

If you're doing a reno but interviewing tenants during it because it will be ready in 60 days that would count as being " in service"Tangible property Regs were changed back in 2014.

Real estate investing is not a solo sport, so you will need a team that you can count on and you should begin building connections in the industry now.

Real estate investing is not a solo sport, so you will need a team that you can count on and you should begin building connections in the industry now.

Real estate investing is not a solo sport, so you will need a team that you can count on and you should begin building connections in the industry now.