I'm looking at approx 10% in this scenario which of course could be overstated for tax purposes so I need a true cost benchmark to compare it against.Subject property is a 1970's build in a solid blue collar neighborhood with <5% vacancy and it looks like it's well taken care of.Thanks for your thoughts.

* there are many, many, many different vehicles that can take you to each bench mark in your investing journey and uncovering these to set a path for yourself will be your first step!) 

@Kevin Barry, for conventional loans I recommend Marty Preston at Benchmark Mortgage, if nothing else he will give you a great consultation.

You can't use a newer, nicer comparable unit as your bench mark for what yours is worth in its current condition.

Not to be taken as benchmark, because we operate in Japan and not the USA, but dealing mainly in condos, we generally only accept empty reserves if they're backed up by a long and verifiable history of repairs/renos etc. of course, if you're local as you say and have interest in turning this around, that's a totally different goal and approach.

There are a wide variety of ways to structure the deals we do as a private lender.On the other side, private lenders that are structured as hard money lenders will have rigid terms, usually require a credit check in some capacity, and want to see certain benchmarks for capital or experience (or both!). 

So for you as a real estate investor, or as a new real estate investor -- your **minimum** benchmark for a return would be -- 15% to 20%? 

What is the benchmark?

We started operations on March 6, 2018 with the long-term economic goal of exceeding the financial returns of relevant benchmarks through investments in real estate; we feel cautiously optimistic about the future of this business.

Once you know the "numbers" it will make looking at deals easier going forward because you have a benchmark to compare it to.