I'll second that the podcasts are great and I think a great tip is to listen to them at 1.5x speed.

I know it can be a bit difficult to find a quality flat roofer and am open to suggestions.

I have a lot of their workers on speed dial :) I have had terrible experiences with First American and had clients have bad experiences with AHS (specifially here- the workers they send are a bit rough).

Not sure what rental demand is like in your area and the quality of tenant, but those are important factors in estimating your expenses.

The recent water quality issues and the poor schools reinforce that.  

Throw in some cash-flow and a quality asset and I'm all over that.  

The quality of the unit directly correlates to the quality of the tenant and the rent rates you can charge.

Probably a move down in quality, but also lower your mortgage expense too and has some tax free capital gains as a bonus.

Be sure to stay active now that you posted, setting up key word alerts can help with that.I can't help with the specifics of Tacoma, but I might suggest researching school quality, as that is a key factor in desirability.  

I am looking to get back into the real estate market, but need to get up to speed with the latest trends.