Brandon,That's unfortunate.Per your #ThisIsWhyWeBuyInsurance, I assume you are in good shape with coverage.  

We are taking advantage of that trend and hope to capitalize on it. 

Neither was in terrible shape, but having a beautiful master bath with new bath/shower facilities was a great selling point and made our property look that much better.

So to keep them happy I offered them about $500 cash to move out early and leave it in good shape.

According to PWC’s annual Emerging Trends in Real Estate report, 2016 is the year of the secondary and tertiary markets.

Or the price trend on Houston real estate has started declining?

I would have zero contingency funds, and nothing leftover for some of the rehabs that are needed to get the units into the type of shape I would actually feel good about.  

While I think the Hudson Valley is a fantastic place to live, I feel like the general population trend is to move closer to NYC or to get out of NY and move down South.

Sometimes the paint is in nice shape, so I just clean the walls lightly.

You do have a really nice option of being able to get free income with no capital gains.BTW, you mentioned that you aren't taking depreciation, I am not in any shape way or form a tax guru, but I thought you had to take depreciation no matter what.