72 degrees in the deep south heat is normal (I'm in SC)- I think a normal AC is only going to cool 20 degrees lower than the outside temp as a rule of thumb right? 

I can recommend one from deep east Texas.

I haven’t done a deep dive to see why but that’s what was on the assessors statement.

My wife and I have aspirations of diving into the real estate world, more specifically multi-family buy-and-hold rental properties. 

Remeasure your capital equity position and when IRR takes a dive, refinance or 1031 into a larger investment. 

I don't have any experience in that market but I'd suggest digging deep into the market metrics. 

A 7-unit for 98k with 14k out of pocket. 5 of seven were rented but the crazy was deep.

Maybe what you have most closely resembles a property management company in which the PM company collects rents, pays expenses on behalf of owners out of rents, and then remits net rents with a statement to owners.I don't necessary think that's optimal as you'd have to charge a fair market PM fee and would open yourself up to SE taxes on what sounds like it would otherwise be rental real estate income.You should talk to a CPA/EA that will sit down with you and have the deep conversation about an optimal way to structure things taking into to consideration everyone's facts, circumstances and goals.

Depending on how deep OP's pockets are, I just saved him easily $30,000....Folks with zero experience making a quick stop by the mortgage industry on the way to bankruptcy court are a dime a dozen.It's easier to become President of the United States of America than it is to start your own mortgage company that doesn't go BK, with zero industry experience.

so looking to dig as deep as I can with sellers or realtors.