See if trump taxes may affect you but I say carrying costs are probably hurting you worse than any potential tax savings. 

Those carry vacancy, yet you still pay the huge HOA fees.

In addition to a WF there is a Gold's Gym and some bar and grill I've never heard of, and a pizza place.... like the area needs one more stinking pizza place.Since @Karelyn Cruz mentioned she was car-less let's focus on the areas that have MARC, WMATA bus & subway and have bike paths and semi-functional sidewalks.

However, I assume that this could be applied to stocks, mutual funds, or anything else that yielded a profit but carried a small amount of risk, and I'm further assuming that he would have some way of guaranteeing the tenant would receive their deposits back even if he messed up in the market.Now, I know that in real estate transactions you're not allowed to commingle funds from business and personal accounts, but I'm hazy on the subject of renters' deposits, specifically. 

Those loan types usually carry a higher rate (there's always an exception but 99% of the time this is the case). 

Are all the EXPENSES going to be passive losses I can carry forward?

Don't worry about those who may try to fabricate their application to meet your criteria, rarely does this happen if the tenants know you really will verify all the information and do thorough back ground checks.For me, there are other aspects that carry greater weight than a person's credit score or credit history.  

District Courts since then have ruled that rental inspections are legal and municipalities may carry out an inspection program and require registration and certification. 

This is simply a question of how much debt you carry.  

It also has to be strong enough to carry some weight of the roof.