When I add appliances, AC units, new roof and a number of other upgrades I would expect to see an increase. 

@Bill Said it is Paper City Savings in the Wisconsin Rapids, Plover, Stevens Point Area.

Combine that with REOs and HUD with their ridiculous prices(many of them say no to assignments) and increased competition from more and more people entering wholesaling due to more people selling courses on wholesaling as if its such a goldmine and here you have the current market situation.

The increase is from $50/unit due to the "Clean water Atlanta" project, which mirrors the numbers you mentioned.They compare Atlanta to NY, and if my tenant's usage approached the average usage, I'll be paying almost as much as you.

Every deduction now takes away from my income, and income increases my taxes. 

Oh, between the two properties, rents were increased by $500.00/month.

These factors ultimately increased my mortgage payment thus reducing my cashflow to about $0/ month after accounting for vacancy, capex, PM fee, etc.

RE investing has been real good to us.So the AHA moment really needs to be for all parties of the decision making and for us that happened in ~2005 (about the time we refinanced both properties) but we did not have the resources to purchase until after the RE had depreciated due to the GR.To the title of the post: We basically have used refinamces to leverage both market and sweat appreciation to have increased both our RE holdings and the value of our other investments. 

I dont have problems with drafts in the house or have any inefficient heating or cooling bills.I got a quote to repair all the siding and repaint everything for $7500.Does this increase the value of my house when I go to sell it?

I'm wondering if I should let him live without the lease as he's increasing the value of the property while still paying rent.