Help analyzing my first deal

[Marc V Palmeri]

Hello,

I have been working on building a master Excel spreadsheet for analyzing deals.  I looked at a bunch of places with a realtor last night and there was one I liked in particular so I'm using it as a basis for analyzing my first deal and fine tuning my spreadsheet.  Would someone be able to help answer a few questions?

1.  Where in the analysis would you list the cost of having the property inspected upon purchase?  I believe this would be separate from the 2% I've estimated closing costs to be, but not sure if I should include it with the initial cost assumptions.  In the analysis example from Bigger Pockets that I'm using as a blueprint, it makes no mention of inspection cost.

2.  What would you estimate accountant/lawyer fees to be annually?  I'm sure this varies by region, and I am in Boston, so I would imagine the cost would be higher than the national average.  But I was wondering if there was a standard I could build into my model.

3. Is there a guideline for how much HOA or condo fees tend to increase annually over time?

4. Is it normal to see cashflow start out negative and then go positive over time, as NOI increases while debt service is static?

Thanks!