Nuts and Bolts of setting up a rental once you own it

[Chrissy Disch]

So I have learned quite a bit on analyzing rentals from a cash flow and risk standpoint, but when it comes to operations I am less sure how to operate.  How do you 'pay' yourself the income, how much and where do you keep the expenses you denote things like cap ex/repair/maint/vacancy/etc?  What do you do when that pot of stashed expenses gets rather large?

Does anyone have tips on how much to actually keep in reserves and what to do with the cash you denote as an expense once you go beyond your desired level of reserves?  Do you just let that pot keep growing on the chance you might need it? 

My specific question is around sub 50k rental homes.