Or you come up against a property where the unpaid taxes, water bills and code violations far exceed any reasonable price for the property.

I understand, money is important right now and a paying bills are a must. 

I also told him this is why I asked 5x what the bill would be all along but he never would give me a number or estimate except for parts. 

To be honest, with about 3 years left and still having my GI bill, I've seen that as enough time to really scale the real estate career especially since my portfolio is at a million with only one property.

Hey Bill, I just ran a search and saw a few options that have potential as long as you're willing to buy a value add property.

The asset, ideally, earns income to pay its bills. 

I believe the Honeywell YTH8320ZW1007/U will fit your bill.

For tax purposes, I'd like to contest this to lower my tax bill, however my concern is that i'm planning to refinance this property in the next 6 months and I'm not sure if the lower appraised value from the city will affect the amount that i can refinance the property for.

Like Bill Brandt says you are leaving ~$150k in taxes on the table!  

@Raymond Rashid I would use potential income but also make sure you obtain financial records, copy of the tenant ledgers, copies of the latest bills, copy of tenants leases and others to ensure income and expenses numbers are accurate.