The good news is you can do partial disposition of the old sewer line and take the loss.

Sec. 1.469-9, you will essentially trap your suspended PALs.You mentioned some of the CPAs you spoke to told you that you won't be able to deduct those suspended PALs until you sell a property (entire disposition).

This way it's easier to do a disposition later on down the road without having to pull up old records and carve the unit of property out of a larger group. 

@Eric Skiba Google around and get a quote for smoke smell remediation.Then include that in your deposit disposition statement which should be provided to the resident according to State of Connecticut law.That is certainly deductible from the deposit. 

@Ian Ippolito it was a disposition fee paid to the sponsor on sale.  

The original owner's only realistic protection before selling to you was either withholding shares in the LLC and constructing disposition of assets in such a way that they would have to sign off, or securing a first position lien against each property.

Keep after it.Make sure you are complying with your states landlord/tenant laws such as providing a document showing disposition of the security deposit (retained for unpaid rent, etc)

You want something so that, in the unlikely event your deductions were actually challenged, you would be able to go into court confident that you have a paper/documentation trail supporting your deductions completely.In fact, merely including such documentation with your disposition of security deposit letter to the tenant, is usually enough to show the tenant that you know what you're doing, and will prevail if they were thinking about challenging your deductions. 

On the property management/investment side at a basic level you need these positions:-Bookkeeper/Compliance/Comptroller etc-Property Manager -Acquisition/Disposition/Leasing If you develop or have a large construction side then you could add a construction management position, but this can contracted out without adding the payroll.  

Thanks for pointing out the typo John. 90% numbers: ROI Prop A 26%, disposition 254%, Prob B 28%, disposition 254%, Prob C 41%, disposition 334%.I did not factor in depreciation, but if you buy 2 properties at 50% leverage versus 1 property at no leverage you'd also get double the depreciation.