Buy them for cash flow and asset accumulation, not for taxes.That said, you do not deduct depreciation.

@Jonathan RobertsSounds like you've got good strategy for to accumulate your reserves.  

I tend to just save that portion now, to help increase my cash reserves to cover MX/CAPEX, and help accumulate down payment money for future purchases.

The general idea is that we “go wide” in accumulating a number of properties, and then at some point we “go deep,” by paying them down or off completely.

Wait to accumulate more savings.

Maybe losing 10 lbs was not my personal definition of a success story when applied to myself, but for someone who has struggled their entire life, it might be monumentalThe reason I consider it a success story is because both my wife and I came from families that never owned property, never went to college, never accumulated much wealth at all, and were truly never financially stable at all.

Do I care about the extra interest that will not accumulate or do I care less because I can acquire another property and someone else is paying the interest?   

Whether you're a cashflow or appreciation investor or short term or long term, we're all trying to balance risk tolerance with our ability to maximize/accelerate real estate accumulation. 

With this type of investment, you're usually buying a property that does not require major rehab upfront BUT has had maintenance deferred for a significant period of time already which is likely to come back to haunt you before you've managed to accumulate significant profits.  

The cash flow has to accumulate enough to cover this wear depreciation and the selling costs which likely means a hold time of greater than 10 years.