rehab cost questions / loans

[Ronald Erwin]

Hello! bigger pocket pros. I made the decision today that I would like to become a real estate investor!! ( got the go ahead from the wife ahah) I currently have 2 properties one is a rental and one I'm living in.  I am about to move back home to Oregon, currently in iowa, I am going to be selling the rental house i have and going to rent my current residence. I am going to use some of the money from selling to start my investing. I had a few. questions in regards to rehab cost, how do you find an accurate number on rehab cost. do you hire a contractor to come out and give you an estimate or do you look into cost of items that need repaired and calculate the cost that way. second  has debt to income ratio  bin a problem for anyone starting out when it comes to have approval for loans.