We anticipate covering the mortgage and taxes and coming out even or with no more than $200 per month in excess earned.

Not cut and dry advice- It's obviously personal preference.

I suppose a more pointed question is whether or not it is possible to attain this goal by purchasing a run-of-the-mill turnkey property at retail, every year for 10 years, in a stable market like Indy and applying all excess cash flow to principal reduction.  

actually wood frame structures never go bad as long as they have stayed dry.

Right now there is no backup in the basement and it was all dry. 

I've got a few dozen units in a couple of states, but am seeing multi-family inventory drying up in those states as cap rates decline and more investors are bidding up each deal.

Any loss that you are not able to deduct is "excess" and is carried forward until it can offset passive income or you sell your property.I'll highlight the three activity levels below.

This seems excessive, but I have seen a drop of 3000 multiple times.  

I am sure, at first, he did exactly what you are doing, and used the excess cash to buy more units. 

I am holding cash for the dip and the excess supply to buy big in the area.