Appreciation is a bonus.  

You also might want to consider bonus depreciation (80% this year). 

We would like to leverage bonus depreciation to offset against our W2 income.

A little about me, i have about 20k saved up in invest-able cash ...looking for areas that have properties 20k and below and still in a workable neighborhood my main focus is single family or duplexes (to start) i'm more so interested in cashflow to buy and hold  (appreciation is an added bonus but not my biggest concern) i would ideally like no less than 12% cocroi ).

A passive loss resulting from cost segregation and bonus depreciation can be a very good tool but..   

If you make consistent income meaning theres not commission or bonus you receive then you can pre qualify just with you consistent income.

I'm thinking Section 179 accelerated/bonus depreciation qualifying equipment.

..once you are negotiating with the bank and agree on a NET PRICE to them, you can boost the purchase price adding in all rehab costs as part of the deal..you can even have the bank give your Buyers Agent Realtor a $2000 bonus which in most states your realtor can REBATE to you on the closing statement (limited to a max of up to 1% of the agents usual 3% commission..so there's probably a few extra bucks going to your realtor in the end and she will love you for that. 

Your situation does sound like you made improvements but some of the bathroom stuff can be five year property instead of 27.5 year property.I would break out the cost of the toilet, vanity, mirrors, shelving, sinks, etc as these are 5 year assets.Then, you can take bonus depreciation or section 179 depreciation and get a similar expensing as it you called it a repair.Plus, you should allocate a portion of the original purchase price of the house to this bathroom then take a write off for the assets you abandoned.

Bonus points, you also will not pay the VA funding fee.