I think more than anything else that bums me out is that these properties were bought well and promised to have good profit margins, but due to my own laziness my lunch got eaten by someone else.

I'm not cashflow in currently, but as soon as I move out and rent the one I'm living in, I'll have a decent margin for my first deal. 

If you're making a 10% profit, your marginal tax rate will determine how much of this is really tax advantaged.  

Hi @Ryan Woodward,Do you know how to calculate marginal ROI on fixes/improvements to REO?

Therefore, make sure there is enough margin for unknown expenses.

I too believe the deal sounds marginal.

Just think about all that time and money you waste buying materials and hunting for the cheapest guy for every job or task.I personally like fair; my GC does not need to be buying a Ferrari or cutting a million dollar paycheck from all the work we give them, but they do have margins and need to make a fair living for the line of work they provide.

As a former HD and Lowes contractor (lost both contracts once HD found out we were expanding and working for Lowes too) specializing in kitchen and bath remodeling, the margins were always in their favor and it was extremely difficult to maintain quality employees and subs based on the rates they would pay.

In NJ, margins are fairly low.

It will require a bit more research for you there.If you're not doing any buying/selling as part of the deal, then you're looking more at a Master Lease (subleasing) scenario and on a single family home, you're likely to not have much margins.