You are buying in an exponentially riskier area, you need exponentially more upside (and less downside)!  

Regarding rents, indeed if market rents go up the management keeps all the upside (that's the downside of this passive/low risk model).In terms of rental income tax, I can shelter with insurance costs and property taxes. 

This is actually one the biggest (and so far most expensive haha) lessons learned I've had because I was so nervous to refi after my 1031.

The cash flow may be a bit better, but they also do not have the appreciation potential and have greater downside risk in a recession.

Biggest question mark in my head is why hasn't this sold in 3 years.  

After spending a whole couple of days reading through various forum posts, I'm still not clear on how people who invest in 100s of investment properties, deal with their taxes.My biggest question is this: Suppose, I refinance my existing primary residence or an investment property and end up using cash-out to buy another investment property.

Timing, pricing and location will be the biggest factors in getting your apartment rented and unfortunately now you can't change two of those.

The downside is that it is a one-time thing vs the revolving credit line that a HELOC is.

The biggest issue was foreclosures and lack of comps.I feel 65k is fair based on the cash flow, but I'm just trying to figure out what my next next step will be.

It seems like the biggest issue is with the connections, but there may be issues with the pipe itself.