One is that when you walk into a house you need to know what the major components to look for are.

I want to negotiate the 1st month rent component.

If that is your first investing purchase have a contingency line item that will help to do the unexpected expense or it might be a gift. 

If the property is brand new you might get away with the first 5 years with minimal repairs but if it's older I'd plan for 30% to go towards repairs or unexpected expenses. 

Any unexpected expenses?

Good point on the temp Bryan, glad to have a contractor in on the discussion.As far as the boiler condition, it's in the basement which gets fairly humid, inspector just made mention that some of the control panel, circuitry, components, etc look rusted and should be serviced as a precaution.

Escape clause is as easy as finding something unexpected that pushes the rehab budget too far.

Courtnay, I agree with Mitch that it is easier to approach investing and all of its components by essentially outsourcing the needed activities until you can do them as well or less expensively. 

That 15% of loan amount in reserves covers times with no tenants, repairs that may need to be made during tenant turnover, and other unexpected or expected expenses.

@Ryan Moore,Ok, those reserve are not required to sit in your LLc account without earning anything.The whole reason we have reserve is to cover unexpected expense.