Property taxes can be found online and insurance is quoted over the phone.

I'd rather just take my lumps and pay the tax as I don't think tax rates are going down anytime soon so my capital gains tax on my profits are about as good as I'm ever going to be expected to pay. 

He finally accepted in principle but the lawyers kept screwing up the negotiations.

Otherwise, look at the investment from a perspective of the basic annual cashflow and then determine if you would be able to gain any significant benefit from the depreciation or other tax benefits of the investment (speak to your CPA on that matter).  

There are also tax considerations, such as depreciation and IRS Section 121 Exclusion.

If you're working with a tax pro, they should be able to run a comparison for you to show the differences.

There is also appreciation (gentrification area for this one), debt pay-down, and tax benefits of owning it outside of the cash-flow. 

Most often I'd hear people say:1) High taxes - but this can easily be reduced/eliminated by proper accounting and management.

Third, they pushed him to buy device from a tax person asking for $600!!!!

If you read and understand the instructions for a 1040 tax form schedule e, you basically now understand how to make money renting out property.