Fair estimate for a maintenance cost on a turn-key property

[Ray Lai]

Does anyone have experience with the maintenance cost on a turn-key property bought through American Real Estate Investments? 

The spreadsheet they sent me for the portfolio of properties uses

$312 in annual maintenance for properties that cost $144k (Fort Worth) and $134k (Houston), and $162 for a $145.5k property. Because of these low maintenance numbers, they were able to show a COCR of around 10%, but when I use the general 1% rule of thumb that people recommend, then the COCR drops down to below 6.77%

As a newbie about to purchase my first deal. This seems like a pretty big difference and does anyone have any recommendation on how to proceed? The company explained that the units are 'fully rehabbed' and shouldn't incur much maintenance cost but holding for a long period of time does entail costly repairs like roofs, termites, etc and those numbers seem awfully low for a SFH right?

I read that 10% COCR on a turn-key is solid, but 6.77% is pretty low in a market that I'm not as comfortable with due to oil prices sliding (been following oil for awhile now) and the economic articles I've read about the areas' economies (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). I do know that in 2016 (looking in the rear view mirror) that Dallas was #1 and Houston #9 according to the BP blog post.

Here's just an example:

http://www.businessinsider.com/houston-economy-com...

Was really excited when I got contacted by someone from the company when I did my newbie introduction, but now while doing due diligence I'm wondering if it was a mistake to put in the loan application today and ding my credit score when the COCR is so low and Houston is somewhere that according the literature I follow is in the final phase of decline:

http://www.businessinsider.com/phases-of-the-housi...

Thank you for your time and advice in advance.

[Daniel P Willis]

@Ray Lai I'm not super experienced with real estate as I only have a couple properties so I would get some more opinions, but one thing to keep in mind is there is a difference in repair costs and CapEx. New roofs, siding, and other large ticket items fall under CapEx (Capital Expenses) which is an entirely different savings than planned repair costs. Another things to remember is the age of the building makes a difference as well, so I would look into how old it is. The reason why is maybe it from the 1900's and they did a complete cosmetic overhaul and it looks amazing, but what about the pluming, wiring, foundation, roof, supports, heating and air conditioning, and other things that don't have anything to do with the way it looks but might have a little to do with your bottom line. Like I said, I would get the opinions of other more experienced investors. I would say this though, no one is going to care more about your bottom line and your family than you, so if your numbers don't add up to what their telling you than I would figure out why because ether their wrong or your not doing your calculations right, either way your the one that will suffer not them. Good Luck man, let us know how it goes.