Was I correct in my statement?"...

Both answers are correct.

With how old NYC's buildings are, everything has to be grandfathered in until the city calls for correction which will happen when he lets the inspector in.

Hi @Noyessie Hubert that should be correct. 

it looks like you have found out - correctly - that the vast, vast majority of properties for sale aren't good deals from an investment perspective. 

I'm going off the understanding that you still need to spend 500+ hours in the business to achieve material participation (please correct me if I'm wrong). 

Use tools like AirDNA or Mashvisor to provide market data on projected rental income and occupancy rates, and make sure your lender works with appraisers familiar with short-term rentals.

You hired evictthemforme.com and they represented you correctly.

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True although the fires this year just adds to the reasons to leave California (excessive taxation and regulation, overbearing political correctness, downtowns littered with feces, etc.).