They take what they feel are comps and sort of average the price after adjusting for differences, then add a factor for excess or less Sq footage.So if 6 close comps sold for an average of $100K and averaged 1500 sq ft, all else equal, they would start at 100K then if the subject property was say 1650 ft they would add like $20-25 per foot for the additional 150 ft.

So, it is a liability UNLESS it produced income in excess of the expenses.

If the cost of an attorney and all of the filing costs that go along with it seem excessive, then you're probably not at a point where you need all that.

However, that amount of excess is recent due to my wife becoming full time where she works, so no nest egg built up yet.

I'm just applying the 50% rule that says 50% of gross scheduled rents will go to vacancy, expenses (taxes, insurance, routine maintenance, make ready costs, tenant damage in excess of deposits, utilities at least when its vacant, CPA fees, legal fees) and capital (roofs, floors, appliances, furnaces, sewer lines, etc.)

If yours exceeds that, you won't get much value for the excess.

But if there is nt something like excessive repairs you found out about after getting it under contract, the seller may not want to go back to the table.

Ok, I'm not actually going to buy but, I've been looking at this site excessively, and decide to give my valuation skills a go.

The client specifically told me he wants in excess of 20k down to make it worthwhile to hold a note.

How about management, advertising, entity maintenance, insurance, evictions, setouts, legal fees, damage done by tenants (in excess of the security deposit), lawsuits, utilities (at least during vacancies), capital expenses (not technically an operating expense), etc, etc, etc?