Anything related to tax deeds deals with paying back taxes, potentially involves bidding against other investors, and had some delays in acquiring clear title to the property.  

They should have just cleaned it up and listed it for 70k.

Sure it can be a write off, but my question is if it is the highest and best use of your time (or the given employees time) to be running a skid steer - transporting it, storage, maintenance, cleaning, etc, and if it still makes sense if you need to hire someone to run it for you and take care of the other things.Add up all those recurring costs - maintaining the machine, maintaining the trailer, having a large enough truck to tow it, insurance and registration for all of the above, your time or your employees time related to all of the above...even at $14k a year it might be attractive enough to keep paying that and having them drop it off at the job site for you.A brand new machine could easily cost you over 6 figures - that's 7 years of rentals at $14k/year before including all the holding costs. 

I would just point out that when you get involved with syndications as a LP, you are basically handing over your money and crossing your fingers that the guys you are hooking up with are honest, fair, and will take care of you well.  

To date, we've cleaned up the title issues, maintained the land/property, and worked with the City of Kansas City to determine a new highest and best use based on the revised Midtown Plaza Area Plan.

This usually involves using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to scan for the remains, but there was one small problem—GPR is only effective up to about 15 feet deep.

I have a sister, 34, who also is very interested in getting involved with the business as well. 

This is a LOT of $$ involved and I would not give up just yet

Ask an accounting advisor if theirs any benefits to one or the other, but I haven't found anything significant beyond if theres a lawsuit, the LLC's state laws can be involved. 

This would involve recognizing a loss on the portion of the property disposed of due to the replacement of the roof.Your understanding that taxing insurance proceeds and tracking depreciation or partial dispositions are distinct matters is correct.