If you’re looking for more rental income and can manage multiple units, another multi-family property could be a good choice.

Now I'm faced with a choice: Buy for 10k more than the appraised value and get good ROI but start my real estate journey underwater, potentially move into another REI property, go to another bank and hope for a better appraisal price or walk away. 

or you said my hypothesis is wrong, it has to be depreciate 27.5 years and no other choice. 

Our choice was to repaint and put in new carpet to replace the new carpet they damaged. 

On the other hand, if you can get a higher return on your investment property than the 7% you have on the mortgage or the mortgage interest rate on the investment property, then your money will be working harder for you in the investment property than paying off your primary residence.The choice is personal and unique to you.

And I have been a PML business owner for a decade so it was an easy choice/chance for us to take and had access to funds to pay it off when rates jumped and our interest earnings was negligence compared to the risk. 

It really does offer some great opportunities, especially with all the recent investments in Columbus—Intel, Google, Amazon, and Meta are making a huge impact.Cleveland’s also a solid choice for cash flow, with its ongoing revitalization and diverse property options.

depends on the quality of the assets and the reliability of consistent rental income.this is an age old argument and really a personal choice at the end of the day.

I'm local and definitely can see how that is a tough choice with the location.If it was by the numbers I'd say spend the money to make it worth as much as possible and try to sell, then use the profits to fund what you want to do next.

Given your situation, setting up an LLC is a solid choice for liability protection and managing your real estate activities.