We currently own a 4bdr house, about 370k left in mortgage, retail value ~580-600k, monthly mortgage ~2600 per monthWe would be gone for 2 to 3 years.

Not everybody agrees with my answer and there have been countless discussions over the value and purpose of LLCs for protection purposes.

How did you add value to the deal?

If all of your properties never turn a profit, then carrying losses forward every year will have no real value for you, but then you will probably eventually get a call from someone at the IRS since the point of investing is to make a profit.

The value of the lot is somewhere around $350,000 and for the sake of simplicity let's say I profit $200,000 from the sale.

How did you add value to the deal?

Hey @Ernest Fox, To answer your questions: I would suggest you get into a property with value add, which will generate lots of deprecation and expenses. 

I also understand that the real money will be made on the 3rd, 4th, 5th+ deals, so my primary concern is getting started, getting experience, and making a little cash on my first investment.My initial strategy was to purchase a light value-add dup/tri/quad that is selling at a discount per key to FMV ideally with rents below market.

After the rehab you end up with a property right at the actual market value so what is the point. 

However, I would have preferred to not have this value add opportunity.