Statistics generally do not lie.Your mistake is in believing expenses are attributed to the year they are incurred.

I hope that with experience we will be able to analyze deals better, and use the attributes you mentioned to the greatest extent. 

I recently copied and pasted some info for myself which I am now uncertain of it's origin... pretty sure it was a BP blog or possibly off LinkedIn, but when I searched the blog list I couldn't find it, so hopefully I won't be breaking any rules by pasting it here for you (and if the author is out there, forgive me for being unable to attribute the credit to you! 

There's a great saying that I love but I don't know who to attribute it to.  

I attribute it directly to his very bad decision to paint the hardwood floors in 100 year old houses.

Keep in mind even if the cash flow nets to slightly negative, the tax attributes may bring the transaction positive.

It is impractical to think you will understand all of the risks and iterations that come with the many loan attributes.

, with the pro rata portion of the capital gain attributable to the investment period, as opposed to the primary residence period, being taxed at the capital gains rate. 

All 9 sold more than 90 days ago, and none have sold in the past 90 days, but I would attribute that partly to seasonal factors.There are also 9 properties either Active or Under Contract that have been on the market an average of 87 days, which isn't terrible.As for renting it, you said your plan would be to rent it until the market improves.  

From November 17, 2016 through November 23, 2016, Home Depot is up more than 4.5%, and they attribute that to their ability to know their customer base, and cater to them quickly.