If the house is on a hill and is sloping down, I would guess that the fill was not compacted correctly and settlement has occurred.

You will be rewarded in every facet of your life proportionally to the value you provide others.  

The furnace and water heater were in good shape, but the AC was gone and it became clear that we had to do something about the huge fireplace.It was way too big for the living room and felt completley out of proportion.

Other forces become the dominating market factor.Real estate values are inversely proportional to the debt service.

The monthly variation in ACTUAL cash flow is part of the risk that allows us to demand a proportionally higher return from our investment than say a physical bond with a defined coupon rate.  

Property management and repairs seem about right, repairs could very easily be higher depending on tenants and property.Now granted I self manage, but your estimates on the cost of operating these properties is a good deal more than I pay to operate a $400,000 property, and that includes taxes and insurance which are proportional to the value of the property.

If you file business income and don't have an office outside your home, it's all utilities, insurance, property taxes, landscaping - proportionally the size of your office to the size of the house. 

But it is a very small geographical location, compacted into a few square miles compared to LA County hundreds of squared miles.

Maybe in an area like San Francisco a roofing cost isn't going to be proportionally higher (compared to rent) than a property in Alabama.

It's a catch 22 circle though, because as we know, city investment for a community through schools, jobs etc are often in direct proportion to the property values of the real estate that makes up the area, through property tax.