The 70% rule is not a rule, it is a quick back of the napkin calculation used as a guideline, nothing more and requires adjustments based on price points, market conditions, rehab (light or heavy), etc. in the competitive market we find ourselves, you must do one of two things (and often both simultaneously) - direct market to sellers or find some creative means to locate and contract deals, or you must create the spread/deal (which takes experience, knowledge of how to do it, and a solid business plan).

He put me in contact with the owner and it really snowballed from there.We met and discussed his complex- he said it was 24 units and gave me some back of a napkin numbers.  

Would it be acceptable to write on a piece of napkin (obviously I won't do this, but I want to just see what the minimum would be) that me and Rick are doing a deal together, with him putting up his money, and me putting up the work, and he's under the mortgage.

That said, you can do it on a napkin and hire a title company to prepare all the closing docs and provide title insurance.

Single Family Home made it so I can do the math on a napkin or a BP Calculator ;) How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

For multi-family units, where you as the landlord are paying for some or all of the utilities, you would of course include them as part of your expenses.Keep in mind that the 50% rule is just a rough guide meant to be done on the back of a napkin.

I followed Ali Boone's "Napkin Math" example and the spreadsheet that I am using gave me the same numbers as in the example.

My reference to you making up the 50% rule was in regrads to you applying thequick back of the napkin commercail analysis to Everyone's small 1-4 unit properties.

The other problem is if you get the toilets that will flush a small dog, likely it wont make to the sanitary in the road.

(unless it is the 50% theory, that is pretty accurate, but still a back-of-the-napkin approach)