Risk entails everything from lawsuits to lack of diversity in investments to low rates of return to high exposure to vacancy (more units theoretically lowers vacancy exposure).

Are their locks on the rooms that aren't supposed to be accessible?

My guess solely looking at your numbers is that it's an older/distressed property which means you have to account for more costs in capex. 2nd thought being it's not in the best of neighborhood then you'd have to take into consideration lower quality tenants/ neighbors and maybe increase expected vacancy and late payments.

There are significant advantages to investing here (lower barrier to entry, much better price to rent ratio's, etc. etc.).

Would that lower our tax liability from other income we receive or no because this is purely RE and not an operating business?

If you have a lot of equity and little cash flow, you should consider accessing that equity to use elsewhere.Another factor to consider is your interest rate on the debt.

You could negotiate terms such as a lower interest rate or interest-only payments for a set period to ease your upfront burden.Lease-Option Agreement: If the landlord isn’t ready to sell outright, consider proposing a lease-option where you continue renting for a set period with an agreed purchase price.

I’m in the process of getting my real estate salesperson license to gain access to MLS listings as well.

States that are non-disclosure don't have as much public information and Zillow doesn't have access to non-public info for their analytics. 

Hi Daniel, Columbus GA has properties much lower in price than the metro Atlanta area, you should do fine to learn your local market.