When you have enough positive cash flow, you will be able to continue operations, while the competition across the street can no longer replace carpets or advertise. 

Property was on the market for awhile and we did not have a lot of competition.

AZ and FL are great markets so you're on the right track, but they are also very competitive so you'll need to figure out how to find good deals.

In my area, your basic websites do the trick because there isn't much competition.

As I work through some of the IRS worksheets, I am wondering whether it is normal that there is a difference in the fraction of depreciation one takes on a rental property that was only rented for part of the year, and for deductible expenses incurred during that same year, if the property was idle for a period of time.For example, if I rented out an apartment for the first eight months, then the apartment was vacant for the remainder of the year (needed some work that I did not have time for), would I be able to claim 100% of the depreciation, but only 2/3 of the deductible expenses for that year ?

I was also looking around for a HELOC on an investment property and they popped up wtih what appeared to be one of the most competitive rates.   

Columbus Ohio is very a competitive market for small multi-family.

In the 30 days before that it was 11 leads.Now granted, that part of that comes from being in a major metro area...however if you are in a small market....you also might have less competition than I do.

@Alex Kim do you know if there are any tic fractional financing available in LA?

I am very competitive with my rates so I just want to know what I am offering.Do you know where I can find a breakdown of the costs?