Purchased from the developer with plans to capitalize on significant operational efficiencies due to owning the property next door.

Another idea is to execute an addendum to the LLC operating agreement to lower Marilyn's membership percentage in the LLC and increase my and my spouse's percentage so our funds can stay in the LLC.

Since you asked, NOI = Net Operating Income: the income remaining after all expenses are paid (excluding CapEx and debt service).

My monthly/Yearly Analysis are Gross rent of $5K/60K, Operating expense(details below)$4.7K/55.9K, net cashflow is $0.338K/4K of 7% operating marginNOI( excl P&I payment ) is 35K/yr with a Cap Rate of 5.83%.

A higher cap rate means more cash flow (specifically net operating income) for a given price.

Having a great property manager and or owner operator that provide good value to residents is the best way to have a successful rental business. 

I could help walk people through evaluating multi-family investments and/or operating a multi-family investment as an owner/manager.  

Some of the cost that you might be able to write off would be your operational cost for your partnership (LLC) that is not related to renovating the houses.

The environmental controls are very tight and underground storage tank (UST) operators are held to strict standards for regular inspections and monitoring. 

Often times business partners skimp on their operating agreement and may not even consult an attorney, then when things go awry it costs ten times more (and can drag out for years) to resolve.