Sure. So I am still pretty new at this in that I bought my first single family rental in 2013. The mortgage company required 3 months reserves (I think, but possibly 6), but that could include anything in a retirement account. I wasn't using any retirement savings for the purchase so that was an easy one.
I stretched myself pretty thin putting 20% down but still had some cash to do the repairs that were necessary. It got to the point that if anything major happened I would need to borrow to do the repairs. Luckily that never happened. Any cash flow from the property has been put into the cap ex account and now I am comfortable knowing almost anything that happens can be taken care of.
There is a lot of talk on BP about doing deals with no or low money. My opinion is that it all comes down to risk. If you buy a triplex and spend all your capital, Murphy's law says three months later a hot water heater will go, a refrigerator will go and the roof will start to leak in that spot the home inspector said to "keep an eye on it but it's nothing to worry about." Then what do you do? How much risk do you want to take?
There are many great threads on here about reserves. I personally like to keep 6 months in reserves, and like I said earlier, it helps you sleep better at night.
