Need reassurance of an investment duplex under contract in Casper

[Kyle Agius]

Hello,

This is my first time posting on here and my first home purchase. I am looking for professional insight on the duplex I currently have under contract Casper, Wyoming, just west of Washington Park. This is a town where rentals and real estate prices are heavily based on oil, which is where my concerns come in.

I am purchasing from a investor who purchased the property 10 months ago for $86,000.  The property was a mess and he pretty much stripped it to replace nearly everything.  New plumbing, new electrical throughout, new electric wall heaters, new windows, drywall, stucco, roof, LVT flooring, and appliances. The seller has his own teams on payroll and says he will guarantee all the work for a year.  The building contains one upper unit, and one lower with an unfinished basement.  All utilities are metered separately with tenants paying.

Specs of the property are as follows.

Built in 1920. 2,200 total square feet(1100 per level) 3 beds/1 bath per level. 

I am told, and based on light research, that rent should be about $900-$1000 per unit.  I have it under contract for $170K and am putting 25% down.  I plan on having it managed as I live about 4 hours away so i am allowing 8%-10% of gross annual rev to go towards that as well as about 10% for vacancy and under 10% for maintenance seeing as nearly everything is new and I should have very few  issues. 

My questions are...

1.) Does anyone have any insight or suggestions as to how much I can get for rent on the property.  I listed on craigslist two days ago, for less than what I was recommended and have had no inquiries. 

2.) Is this a safe deal?  Based on the details, how confident should i be for my first investment property bringing positive cash flow for the future.  Does anybody have insight on the Casper area?

3.) What other suggestions do you have for determining how secure this asset is?  What are reputable stats I should pay attention to?

Thanks for the help and let me know if I need to provide any other details.

[Art G.]

Wow... my gut reaction to the whole, you pay now and we will fix it up later is DANGER! That isnt how it works. They spend their money, and work hard and fast to get it done so that they can sell it to you. If you give them the money now, where is their motivation to get it done fast? Also for that much down I think you can get into a lot more markets if you aren't afraid of distance and management.  Without running the numbers yet to know for sure, it sounds like there are a ton more good deals on this site to investigate first before buying this property. 

10% for management company is standard. Check out rents on https://www.rentometer.com/

As far as a vacancy fund, you should just let the first few months rent build up to cover any repairs and vacancies.

As to the deal itself, I need to know what are the terms of the mortgage? How many years, and at what interest rate and if its fixed interest? What are the annual property taxes?