When you transfer money from your business banking account to your personal account, the IRS will see this as income, and you will be taxed accordingly.

Are there ways to tell if one area of a major city is appreciating in value vs another area (besides picking a dozen properties and analyzing zillow estimates (or sales comps/tax assesments, etc) ?

I also gain the mortgage pay-down in equity and the tax advantages of real estate to offset my gains. 

You will also want to be sure to keep your eyes and ears open to the possible tax benefits of investing in RE.

"Commercial" is meaningless for taxes.

Is your DSCR ratio greater than 1-meaning are you cash flowing (according to the lender's criteria of mortgage, property taxes and insurance (and HOA) if applicable).

From the CA website:A landlord can only deduct certain items from a security deposit The landlord can deduct for:Cleaning the rental unit when a tenant moves out, but only to make it as clean as when the tenant first moved inRepairing damage, other than normal wear and tear, caused by the tenant and the tenant's guestsRestoring or replacing furniture or other personal items, but only if this was included in the rental agreement and the damage isn't from normal wear and tear Generally, a landlord can keep part of the security deposit for rent owed.

It's pointless→ I want to evaluate how the property is performing NOW→ Where it COULD BE performing→ And WHAT it will take to get there.This involves (at a minimum) checking comps, creating a 5 year proforma, verifying taxes & insurance, and making assumptions about the business plan.You can't determine if a deal is a pass/go simply from NOI / Cap Rate.The art of underwriting involves finding value where others miss.If you're passing on deals just from dividing the in-place NOI by a cap rate, send those over here!

I honestly belief that investors should stop looking for specic catagoeries/situations of people to find houses to buy, and instead focus on motivation (regardless is their house is vacant, tax liened, foreclosure etc. etc.)Do you really care that you get a vacant house deal, or do you care that you find a high profit deal regardless whether it is a vacant house or not?

Do they include property tax and estimated income tax from the projected profit?