evaluating potential rental property cashflow

[Dan Miller]

I am new to RE Investing and do not own any current rental properties, but it's an area of interest. I'd like to build up passive income. A few questions I have in evaluating the profitability of rental property:

1) When we're talking about single family homes, how much should I generally assume for maintenance and operating expense? 10% of rental income? A fixed monthly amount? I have no idea what to assume here. What about for condos where you already pay a condo fee?

2) How much do property management firms generally cost? I've heard anywhere from 5-10% of the rent. Does that include collecting rents, screening tenants, marketing for new tenants, and making any types of repairs or regular maintenance? Would any expenses they incur from maintenance be passed on to me? Do they set the rent or do I set the rent? Do they advise on the market rental rates in the area to help me decide?

3) Any other expenses I need to consider outside of debt servicing, vacancy rates, property mgmt, taxes, and maintenance when determining if a potential investment property would be cashflow positive?

Thanks,
Dan