Milwaukee City Assessor's office doesn't seem to offer property attributes for parcels listed as mercantile apartments.The $25K rehab cost is the roughest swag in this entire calculation, in my opinion.

No - maybe a hair less to make it stand out, but you wouldn't leave money on the table just because you've perfected your business.Consider also that money shouldn't be your only concern - time and quality are important too.

Just sayin if you want your product to stand out, mayyyyybe push the envelope a little!

Which, for all intents and purposes, are ALL his projects that anyone knows or gives a damn about.Lets stop pretending that you or I could rebuild and remap NYC, in such an impactful and unapologetic way, even if our dad loaned us a mere $58M.Please read the book, and I wonder if you will still attribute his early success due to luck or money.

Can this direct mail expense be attributed directly to the purchased property in some form as an expense?

If the latter is the case, anything you can do to make your rental stand out will help. 

it seems in our area that land takes a while to sell and sometimes parcels are on for a year or more (which I attribute to not being priced right - like an existing house), but is that typical because of study periods?

Since you don't want to create the same list as everyone else, maybe look into creating unique mail pieces as well so you stand out from your competition.  

I attribute it to having to  learn new skillsets (such as firewalls) and the market in general.  

When looking for mailers, I highly recommend looking for a product that will get you to stand out.