Loan servicing is the first step because you need to stay RESPA compliant with your activities, and it is relatively inexpensive. 

I have a pretty good network of inexpensive contractors since I have had a fair amount of repairs and renovations on both my houses.

. $7.200/yr, per LCAD) - $600/moThat's an extra $275 in expenses, bring your cashflow down to around $125/mo. 

We know we got a good deal my area is pretty inexpensive .

Expenses reduce income before deductions are taken.I can run one company into a loss for another company, but when you get tothe bank, the only thing they add back in will be depreciation, since it is not a cash expense.There are two ways for a lender to look at expenses, by taking the gross and deducting a flat (generally) 25% for maintenance, taxes and insurance as well as vacancy or look at actual numbers.If you tell the IRS that you had $6,000 in expenses on a property it's hard to tell the bank that you didn't have $6,000, especially when they look at the tax return and that's what most investors will be working off of to get a new loan.I guess you can tell them, and they might BS you, but the taxable income + depreciation will prevail.You are certainly entitled to plan and manipulate your business to reduce your tax liability, Tax Planning, it's fine to avoid taxes, just don't evade taxes.

FYI-you can find some great, inexpensive courses ($99 each) written by  Pittsburgh Real Estate Attorney Brad Dornish at Dornish.net.  

You can send full-color postcards for around $.38 each which is fairly inexpensive for the return you get

If you go with inexpensive labor, be prepared to supervise a lot and be on the job every day.

My thought was replace any carpet with inexpensive engineered hardwood, make sure the place is well painted, and slap some epoxy on the basement / garage floor and be done with it.

I have done a rough expenses chart and figure it will be around $2270 a month in expenses.