Either cheap states (NM, AR, KY come to mind) or tertiary markets outside of the suburbs or bigger markets, small midwestern towns also fit this description.

QuickBooks will allow you to do Mortgage Amortizations, keep track of property Information like land description, square feet, purchase date, type of house, whatever you want QuickBooks to tell you, YOU CAN CUSTOMIZE it to do it. 

I've never met a wealthy bicycle shop owner.

The IRS looks at use and facts versus the asset's generic description. 

If after that deduction, and all other deductions you still have cash flow, which is unlikely, it is a candidate for hold however based on your description of the handy work I would guess it to be a maintenance pig that you would be safer to unload now and move on to other endeavors that will have a better chance of being positive cash flow. 

The owner has kept poor records and gave me a fumbling handwritten description of rent paid and vacancies to pass on to the bank.

@TonyGunter thank you for the vivid descriptions.

hello to all. just a quick description of myself. i am a real estate investor working in the western New York area. i have been doing this in this area for 12 years now, with many successes. i am a licensed home inspector, work as a handyman for a local property management company, and currently own several investment houses. i can safely say that i know the area quite well. given my home inspectors experience, i feel very confident in my ability to judge the condition of a house and evaluate the rehab to bring it back to a marketable condition. having a degree in accounting, i feel quite confident in my ability to manage the numbers part of the transaction as well. having recently passed a course in furnace installation and repair, i feel i can safely replace appliances such as the furnace if need be and a water heater if need be, saving large sums of money in the rehab. he is what i am looking for. i am looking for a HML to fund my latest find. a 4 bedroom, one bath house with two stall garage in a family neighborhood that i currently own 2 houses in and have purchased more in the same neighborhood in the passed. 

I've met a few here in town, but they weren't quite a good match for our business.

A good condition description will help this.