No offense to your mother, but if she had been raising the rent every year over the last 20 years, she'd be sitting on a few million instead of pondering her retirement plan. 

And I mean no offense whatsoever but based on the negative cash flow deal you're in now and some of your assessments and replies in this thread, I suspect that you might be in a position where you'd benefit from further research and continuing to educate yourself on investing (this forum, local REIAs, networking with other investors, etc), as well as the specific local market you're looking to invest in before you just pull cash out and potentially find yourself in another negative cash flow situation and/or upside-down equity position by either not knowing the market you're buying in well enough or by not being experienced enough to know when a deal is really a deal and when it's not.

@Matthew Olszak Jamie Engledow no offense but this is bad advice.

I deleted your's when we moved to VT (no offense) because I didn't expect to live in GA again.

After I found out all of these things I went full offensive in dealing with him and took over the project myself. 

I mean no offense but who would list a million dollar property with someone they don't know who and just happened to solicit them.

@Matt Boyle no offense, but if you are an appraiser asking for tips from agents about price discovery that is sorta a red flag for me.You as an appraiser are considered to be an impartial expert on value, and agents like it or not have an inherent bias and are generally not trained, licensed or required to follow USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice)Refer to link below for differences between USPAP and BPO.https://nationwide-appraisal.com/appraisal-avm-bpo...I am curious as to why you are asking for tips from agents doing BPO's vs seeking advice from professional appraisers in the Chicago land area?

This is both an offensive and a defensive tactic.

No offense, but not all GC's and handymen are created equal.

yes. i thought NJ and NY markets are the same. it was the news all over in the world that attracts homeless to NY that the city using taxpayer money to house them. it's $2000 per person a month. google any NYC pay homeless, tons of news. non paying tenants, paying homeless....http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3995098/Ne...There was a news few years back that NYC panhandlers who own a few condo apartments by putting dirty make up on without getting haircut or some with a dog. this is one of the news even on International Business news.http://www.ibtimes.com/how-much-do-panhandlers-mak...no offense, why we want to invest real estate?