It's great to see you turned a negative like that into a positive.

@Samuel George I wouldn't take that property if they gave it to me [it would still be a negative cash flow]!

I am looking for an agent in South Eastern Pennsylvania who deals with REIs and understands the concepts on this website.

But, there's no deal on here, based on rental income, it's negative cash flow with only minimal repairs, and the occasional vacancy, let alone major repairs/damage.

I feel like you will have much more success selling an individual deal than you will selling a general concept.  

McGuigan you will find in life and business that some relatively bright people will have different and seemingly contradictory opinions on a given subject, study read and learn as much as you can, then see what makes sense to you, take an idea concept, try it, push it, test it see what works and what doesn't for yourself.

Account Closed  An interesting concept.  

I'm wondering if our legally unrecognized status will be a factor, negative or potentially positive, as we look into financing our first rental property. 

I don't think it would make sense to leverage your home to raise capital if it means going into a negative cashflow situation. 

The rental return based on your purchase price is pretty decent and if you have a long term tenant it isn't too bad (most of the negative cash flow is coming from paying down the debt, which in my opinion is not too bad, and also on paper you'd be losing a lot of money and that helps with your taxes).