The problem is that one of the two units is covered by the rent control ordinance in LA, and she cannot evict the tenant.

My question was how people "deduct"/don't pay tax on those expenses.To provide numbers, again this on a property, but not one I currently own (tenant in place for 1 year so no ads, turnkey so should have low repairs, but I still use 8%).income 1250$/monthTaxes 177$/monthInsurance 100 $/monthmgmt fees 100$/monthmaint 100$/monthVacancy (not actual money put aside) 125 $/monthCapex 183$/monthmortgage 440$/month of which Interest 4000K/year (330$/month)monthly expenses:1225$/monthprojected net income: 25$/month Your expenses remain the same (I guess they could decrease if you're covering utilities or something) when you're vacant, so you'll likely lose money each day you are unrented. 

Factoring in the mortgage, I came out at $90.68 (526.27 Net Operating Income - $435.59 mortgage) as my monthly cash flow.So here are my questions:Am I correct in thinking that I can finance $100,000 to cover my cash in, and use the difference between the appraised value and the financed amount ($41,000) as the minimum 20% equity to stay in the property that is needed by the bank? 

I also attended a TREIA workshop on legal issues for landlords and had a real estate attorney review my application and policies, and I do move-in inspections with new tenants so everything is transparent and covered up front. 

If I put 15k in an index fund for the next 18 years I can just about cover a decent in state tuition. 

I presented a cash offer and 'subject to' and explained the 'sub to' to them.They are not interested in sub to and asked if I wanted to buy the property for what they owned on it?

So, my question for the BP community is this: does anybody have a verified, dependable screening company that covers evictions nation-wide - even Maine, and that will allow me to see the full credit report (after an office inspection, of course)? 

The idea was that direct material and labor would be covered and any gross profit would contribute something to cover the overhead.

My goal is to begin my real estate journey buy acquiring a multi-unit i can occupy and rent out to cover to the mortgage and hopefully create small cash flow. 

Initial cost is driven by home buyers making it too high and rent is rarely sufficient to cover expences.