If you are using hard money you need to budget for the points and fees as well as traditional third party closing fees.Repairs: The money it is going to take you to rehab the property plus an extra 10% of estimated repair costs to account for unexpected repairs.Holdings Costs: Here is where a lot of investors get tripped up.

It would not be wise to leverage in any situation, in my opinion, without adequate reserves for the unexpected, however.

To get there I am working on increasing my income and reducing my daily living expenses.I had a massive personal budget overhaul about a year ago and reduced my expenses as much as I could, all expenses are planned and budgeted and I know exactly how much cashflow I have each month if there are no unexpected expenses.Part of that is I am focusing on flipping/wholesaling property to build more capital and then use it to buy more rentals as well and focusing on increasing my J.O.B. income until I can do REI full time.I think either route can work, buying only rentals may be a little slower at first but if the equity and cash flow are managed well it can increase more and more.

I'm struggling to find any information on that component, but I will continue searching.  

You can built that back up...or the "worst case" is you take out a <insert form of debt here> if you have an unexpected cap-ex expense come along. 

My father passed away a few months ago unexpectedly at the age of 52.

I am mainly looking for a property with value add components.

Remember you will need your 3.5% FHA down payment and cash reserves for unexpected repairs/ vacancies.

Maintenance wise, less issues and easier to repair (component swap).

Are some experienced investors reading this and predicting failure due to an unexpected maintenance issue, or failure to manage my manager?