May as well just forget all that and finance acquisitions with a refi, 2nd or Heloc on your primary.

May as well throw number estimates out the window. 

You can't just say "House For Sale, call me".You can say the house is for sale with an assignment of interest of something short and similar, the general public won't really know what that is nor do they care, but others involved in RE may. As

I purchased a property Nov 2015 and moved through the rehab construction and the refinance loan application was started in January...here we are at the end of May as 5 months have ticked by and Sherman Bridge is charging me $1500 monthly interest so they clearly have zero motivation to complete the processing of my refinance loan!!!

This is, that 50% of your gross rent will be used up with expenses to run the rental.So, if you have a property with 1,200 rent your income monthly will be approx $600.If you choose somewhere else to live, that will cost you greater than $600/month, you may as well stay in the home.

I only have a few units so haven't tried it yet but may as they increase. 

The question still remains unanswered (until now): May a Chicago tenant legally use their security deposit for payment of their last month’s rent (or any rent) regardless of their signed rental agreement?

While you're living in it you may as well rent by the slice (per room) and get close to if not more than the $1400/mo.

If you aren't going to stay in the game long term, you may as well not get in at all.

May as well send them a letter.Another event from this week...the realtor that I work with gave me a call about a property that just hit the market at midnight the night before.