My issue is now determining what depreciation bucket to put each item in.  I

It's a great city for Investors as typically the buy-in is more conducive than other cities.

Nothing sketchy lol Follow the math:Your money in versus money coming to you.Her money in is a plus to you...that's income.Your money out is a negative to you...that's a cost.Putting your money (cash) into the principle is nothing more than a location change for those funds. 

Maybe you can't guard against everything, but done properly your capex reserves - which, for me, is just all the extra money put aside since I live on way less than I bring in - is invested in index funds, or maybe other real estate, or something else, that is outstripping those inflation numbers.

I thought I wanted to do live in fix and flips so I bought my first foreclosed house back in 2015 and have been living in it as soon as it was habitable and slowly finishing it off (emphasis on slowly, my Dad warned me I would never get it finished once I moved in!) I

@Fred Ewert I am in a similar situation down here in Muncie, IN. I

The mortgage on that property is about 695, All In. I

@Rodney Reeves If you're looking for an easy spreadsheet to track your income/expenses in I like this one:http://www.fastbusinessplans.com/business-templates/rental-income-expenses-spreadsheet.html

@Randy E. what part of Durham are you in? I

I was majorly bummed but since I had already priced it in I wasn't devastated just sad I didn't get lucky haha