If I had just bought this property and could force some appreciation, I could refinance and hopefully extract that equity within a year, for example--but since this house is paid off, refinancing would introduce a new mortgage payment.What are the options here?

I would venture to say very few landlords correctly hold their deposits based on local landlord/tenant law but as long as the money doesn't walk away and is not wrongly withheld from tenants its highly unlikely wrongfully storing the funds will become problematic.

Have you bought commercial multi out-of-state before?

I just bought it in the fall and am trying to complete a bunch of modifications during off-season (e.g. metal roof, certain safety features, treating the deck, possibly updating the fire pit area, etc). 

I have bought 3 properties there with other investors over the past 2 years. 

I bought my first property for the investment side of the business in March 2023. 

Most amounts are too small for the hassle, and again, that becomes litigation, not simply an audit.Creative finance buyers, I do not believe it's a winning argument to the IRS to say that you bought the property, didn't make the payments and you took the write offs anyway.

I should probably add, that I do the same thing here: most of what I bought in the last 3 years does not much better than break even, but I am buying in the best possible neighborhoods that still work as a rental.

I bought an awesome cocktail arcade table for my wife six years ago.

That helps some...but your variable expenses also go up too - property insurance & taxes - so a lot of your rent increases go to offset rising variable expenses.I started at the age of 47 in 2018 and we bought properties fast and furious - 12 the first year, 10 the next, and 9 in 2021 and currently have 38 properties.