what are the laws in CO regarding unlicensed wholesalers tying up property advertising it and collecting a fee at closing is that even legal in that state. ???

As mentioned elsewhere, breakeven on cash flow is not the same as break even for taxes.Let's make some assumptions:Rental income = $1000Mortgage payment = $400 - but $300 is interest and $100 is principalOther expenses (repairs, advertising, utilities, etc) = $600Depreciation = $250The above scenario creates a break even from a cash flow perspective, however the tax scenario looks like this:Rental income minus the mortgage interest (principal is not deductible) minus the other expenses minus depreciation looks like this:1000-300-600-250 = $150 LossIf your income is over $150,000, then you cannot deduct that loss, but you can roll it over to future years. 

Real material cash flow is basically 50% of your net income.Cash flow is a metric that requires a debt ratio.

The cost of labor , materials , property taxes , inflation , interest rates  etc .

@Kyle Atans  for me for the younger investors or starter investors is  at least use that 100 or 200 a month positive to paydown debt at an accelerated rate it will save them a ton in the long run and if they can get them paid off in 10 to 15 years that's a good thing.. its not like saving 1200 a year is going to materially affect their ability to buy unit number two and if its that tight not sure owning rentals is that great of investment anyway.

From my research, I'm seeing $100-$150/sqft depending on complexity and material.

I didn't use it, but I looked at the marketing materials.

I recommend you include some of your key qualification criteria in the advertisement.

We have decided, like you mentioned to advertise for LTR  and see how things go. 

You could argue that your property has not materially improved and does not meet the same value as the most recently sold properties.