Make sure any renovations comply with local regulations and obtain the necessary permits if plumbing changes are involved.

The date you are able to take depreciation is when the property is ready for renting (i.e. advertising for rent or obtaining a certificate of occupancy).

This may be because (1) until recently interest rates were trending lower so if the lender is getting a higher rate on subject note than he can obtain on new note there’s no monetary incentive to call the note (2) in the past technology did not exist to identify the property transfers (ten years ago county recording docs were not online) and (3) the lenders rather collect payments than own property.  

There is a case for buying well-located solid assets that produce immediate current cash flow at reasonable leverage. 

Most owners are local and therefore “hot” money or out of area players are not yet chasing Pittsburgh assets, keeping prices favorable.References United States Census Bureauhttp://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2017/august/economic-impact-report.htmlMarcus & Millichap 2017 Multifamily Investment Forecast2017 Commercial Real Estate Trends Report by Integra Realty Resourceshttp://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/Pittsburgh-Magazine/September-2017/Staying-CMU-All-Eyes-on-Carnegie-Mellons-Future/http://www.nextpittsburgh.com/features/pittsburgh-developments-watch-2017/

So this is some kind of communal organization - there is a "mentor" at the top, and a bunch of "mentees" who do work for each other/for the mentor.Hopefully the asset is all in your name and your name only. 

If you need to obtain it, how difficult will that process be?  

Dumb Debt also means that the owner takes on recourse debt and personally guarantees it instead of non-recourse debt or other people’s debt (OPD) or cross collateralizes it with highly appreciated assets with low debt to value ratios.

The smaller homes can be obtained in nicer areas while demanding higher rents with section 8 compared to the private market.

But this way you have appreciating assets paying off your appreciating asset.