However, all the numbers I run do not present with a positive cash flow.

There are times to use monthly MI as well if you think you've found a great deal where you can force equity or improve the value of the property so much so that your current loan with monthly MI will be at 80% or lower LTV/loan to value after your improvements then monthly MI is better because you may end up refinancing or removing MI 6-24 months after closing.

So your first deal if you made 50k then you can keep it all for example as you have already paid 25k.People do not either have the money or they do not want to put themselves out there with equity in their house etc.Part of being successful is letting go and going for it.

The house needed a complete makeover so over the years we've transformed the house and earned us 70k of equity.

After a year, you will hardly have any equity in the property.

Another advantage of higher priced homes, is the power of leverage and the tenant paying off a higher amount of principal payments each month which increases your equity at much higher rates than for cheap homes

Also, some of these investors plan to move here themselves and want their investment properties positioned in the State they plan to live in.  

We have private investors (passive), a contractor (equity partner), lawyer (equity partner - still looking), and a financial advisor (equity partner - still looking).

If it produces more energy than it consumes then the building is Net positive - though Net Zero is too frequently used as a blanket term to cover both these cases.Ironically, Net Zero does not automatically imply higher energy efficiency - there are several examples of commercial buildings with large expanses of flat roofs (i.e. warehouse) which are net positive, despite the building itself being horribly inefficient.Building standards in North America are woefully outdated on matters of energy efficiency.  

What's the total debt and total equity?