I suspect rented to whoever had cash in hand at really low rates, so no one bothered him with maintenance issues. 

I generally dont like negative cash flow, but if thats being caused by a very low down payment initially thats to be expected, and thats what I suspect since my properties at almost twice that price have similar closing costs but with 20/25% down.

I do suspect $300 below market is too much below market and financially amounts to tenant charity which is not what I am recommending.

It's a great place to live and to invest in.I own 7 rental properties in Greenville.In my experience with small residential income properties, if you can get a TRUE 8% cap rate you will be doing well.At 8% cap and $500,000 of property paid for in cash, your annual income will be $40,000.You probably can increase your annual income by the use of leverage.I suspect you might need more income to live on.Investing $500,000 in real estate is great, I don't know if it will accomplish what you want - not work the 9-5.

I suspect @Uri Pearl is discussing IRS taxes in respect to earnings on the apartment but still the thought of owning a tax title for 5 years is frightening to me

This I imagine is something you suspect, as I cant imagine how you possibly would have proof of ssid fact.

Just as I suspected.

If not can you afford the negative cash flow on the one asset while you deploy the cash to purchase other assets to offset the negative cash flowI suspect even in NYC you won't be able to raise the rent high enough to break even so the next best thing is to sell the property for $550K, pay taxes on the gain then start looking for investment properties.If you want to avoid taxes and have you've properly identified the property as an investment property (no longer an owner-occupied property) then you qualify for a 1031 exchange.

I suspect you would need to discount that note at least 30 to 40%.  

The area is certainly great, and depending on the price/product I suspect those other 2 units should sell not too long after.