During that time I've often described the multifamily market as a traffic collision at a 4-way intersection where you had (lack of or negative) rent growth coming from one direction, and from the other directions: cap rates, expenses, and interest rates. 

The Property Management company has breached the contract in terms of allowable expenses without owner's approval.

@John Davey Interest on a home equity loan used to purchase or improve rental properties is deductible on Schedule E as a business expense, but not on Schedule A for your primary residence.

Ideally, we'd like to acquire one or two duplexes that meet the 1% rule and provide us with $1,000–$2,000 USD per month after property management fees and other expenses.

I'm completely lost at why people would spend money on class and workshop, when they can actually use that money and go find deals a bit outside of the expensive city we're in. $8,000 could got you started on a deal, or do a mailing list of some kind.

So now I have 2 mortgages with only the first one showing a small amount of income as long as I don’t show a lot of expenses.

I've heard good things about Dataflik but know that they are expensive.

What expenses do tenants typically pay for? 

For any LP who is likely spending a minimum 25k investment, this is a no-brainer expense, and quite small.

The D/F locations look great on paper but almost never pencil out that way with all the vacancies and expenses.