So a buyer would really open up a world of issues buying said property.Honestly, the price would have to be ridiculously low (not just subtract the cost to repair said issues.. but a LOT more) for me to even consider buying it... and no matter how low...

When you subtract reported income from expenses there is only 3k profit per year.

Quick analysis is derived by taking annual Gross potential rent, subtracting an appropriate expense ratio (a percentage of income that is typically used for normal operating expenses+reserves+taxes etc.) and dividing by a market Cap rate.

It seems that even when I find a property that meets the 1% rule, by the time I consider 95% occupancy and subtract PITI and 50% maintenance estimate each month I end up with almost $0 cash flow.  

You take the gross income  and subtract out all of the operating costs and expenses (taxes, insurance, gas, electric, water, trash, lawn, snow, maintenance, CapEx reserves, management, etc).

Real estate involves, at best, sixth grade math: addition, subtraction, and sometimes long division.  

You have to subtract the original $230k you paid out of pocket first...which leaves you with $715k.Now, subtract all the lost income (now negative CF) from the months that you had vacancies, Maint. costs, CAPEX, etc...assuming 15% of rent per year, that's about $15k x 15 years = $180k...which leaves you with $535k in virtual profit.IF we just stopped there, you would have gotten $35k/year return (on average).Now, comes the big money losses.You will be operating at an average loss (and this is real money due to cash out of pocket to pay for expenses not covered from rent due to now negative cash flow)  per year of at least $15k.If you had invested those losses (and since the source would have been liquid this is not a virtual thing) at a measly 5% per year, and reinvested it all every year, you'd be at almost $800k in actual real money.Anytime you accept hard cash losses, you are losing the benefit of your cash being a "verb" instead of a "noun"...and you lose all the compounded profit from you cash being reinvested and in action...forward action.

Subtract carrying costs of 3500 and that brings it to 202,555.

Decent condition both inside and out, on boiler, no central air, and planning for no property management services. 12-month leases, $29,700 per year (including a garage that is rented out to another entity) subtracted by annual expenses (including taxes, insurance, mortgage @ 4.5%, waste/sewer/water) should amount to around $17,782.

Im thinking that if I create a “real-estate investment business” and i make a down payment purchase on a home that would be a business expense and therefore subtract from total profit.