Here in DC area its killing landlords as well as the small retail as the office buildings are all first floor retail/food service and the govt is not back to office or they are 2-3 days per week which for these businesses is a 406-%+ drop as typically fridays would be the day you go out for lunch etc. and now most people work from home on fridays.

The same amount of work would be involved for a deal 3x as large, focusing on larger deals.Bad tenants will cost you 100's of thousands of dollars.Business associates make better friends than friends make as business associates.

The landlord said that its not zoned for business and that would raise flags with the IRS and i could potentially get audited. keep in mind that i have a consulting business. is there some truth to this because i do have a home office at the house as well. the rent is 1600 per month. that 1600 per month and utilities wouldn't be a tax write off to my LLC?

So in this time I want to start a handyman business.

 I do business in every state you mentioned and I prefer MD and Philly of them.

- Sound proof between rooms might be an idea worth pursuing.One problem a lot of landlords run into is that they see the unit as an act of love, not a business.

I was building spec duplex condos and when the market turned in 2008 I switched several of the units to this business model for survival.

First and foremost make sure this is a partner you are comfortable doing business with.

Point being, perhaps the roof work could be considered just a repair, and you write it off, and ignore my options 1 and 3.3) For a commercial property that is a "trade or business", you can take a 179 deduction on the new roof. 

It's not good business practice at all.