Now I am selling my stocks at a loss to get my roof replaced.A great property has come on the market fitting all of my criteria, all I need is the down payment.

Meaning a fitting in a pipe that was worked on 9.75 years ago bursts, they allege that it was a defect from the plumbing work done under your GC supervision, they can file lawsuit and if they can prove negligence to 6 people that could not get out of jury duty, they win.  

"@Jd MartinI think you made an excellent point that even though I am not producing cash flow, I am building equity. 

Quite a few of those properties come with deadbeat tenants inside who won't be a good fit for my program.

I have an excellent opportunity to buy my first investment property (hopefully in the next couple of months) and already have my first tenant committed in Detroit, MI (no Detroit bashing please).

I created a excel list... created a letter (short & sweet) and did a mail merge. 

The only unit that would fit my family was occupied.

Finding that Niche to fit me!

You've found an excellent place to stoke your investing ambitions.  

You typically buy any property because it fits whatever the profit agenda is not because you are trying to outbid some other investor.