It's a bit of a long story, but I had a rental property before, losing to foreclosure when I lost several thousand in a slum lord who made my family and I homeless a couple years ago (never moved into the house because of mold, but then they rented the house on us while we were out of state).  

Plus they did not pour cat litter down the toilt drain, which is always nice.My experience is that the 5 day Notice loses it's teeth after they found out it did not bite the first time.

If your not getting no’s, having trip ups, losing deals then your missing opportunities.

this means if the renos take longer, you're not losing money and he has no incentive for the work to take longer and get a lower rent.

.- I agree with other comments, investing in OZ is very risky, most of the offering is an opportunistic-style investment (compared to core/value add in 1031 DST), so there's quite a bit risk of losing money.

2) If I do that, will I lose the deductions?

If it’s currently leased out, they most likely are charging too little rent and no one wants to lose money. 

Examples: I take a refundable pet deposit instead of a non-refundable one or a monthly fee, I currently pay the whole water bill without taking money from tenants because the duplex is watered together (I will eventually get a separate meter but the outlay is more than I want to pay right now) assuming it doesn't get out of control, paid for the new doorknobs on the bedrooms because the tenants requested locks despite the lead tenant saying they would pay for it, planning to replace the microwave hood simply because it's louder than it should be though it still works, etc.I'm probably losing out on a minimum of $100 monthly.

It seems to me that I'm not gaining or losing value, aka insurance is giving me only what I've lost in value because of the mistake, no more.

And I really dislike my money sitting in the bank and losing 3% to inflation every year.