@Jonathan Dunn,I am terribly sorry for not responding Jonathan. 

They get a terrible wrap, especially in Atlanta.

It looks terrible and is a fire hazard.

I'm not a total newbie, I guess, since I do own a rental house (I moved two years ago and since the market made it a great time to buy, but terrible to sell, I became a landlord).So my wife and I are in the early stages of looking for a vacation property.

I ask because I'm currently looking at a duplex, and based on the numbers I've been given, and even with being absurd with my offer price, the Cash on Cash ROI is terrible, but I know without a doubt that I can raise rents in both halves.

The realtor and property manager were terrible. 

Like you, I love the idea of using the tax code to minimize my tax burden as much as possible, and I see the terrible situations many people are in as a result of a lack of money and truly feel bad for them.

I quickly found out that it is a terrible strategy (not concern yourself with cashflow) and now just recently found out it isn't even possible to use passive losses against my active income and was quite disappointed. 

It wasn't terrible except when cold and that electric furnace kicked in.

However, most blue collar people are terrible business owners.