I look at it as an expense item as part of my RE holdings along with taxes and other related expenditures (which I leave to my accountant to allocate).  

@Matthew CarducciDid you allocate any amount for capex?

My current primary was a buy low deal in 09' so it will cash flow north of $500.00 a month after all debt service, cap ex and vacancy allocations and with our W2 incomes we can easily afford the new house and still have a nice life style.Is there such a thing as "Happy Wife, Happy Life" or do I stay the course and make her wait (or divorce me) until we have our rental portfolio started/establish.... what's a good number to get to before we upgrade our primary?

I quickly became curious on how I could repeat the process.When I was settled down in rural Louisiana, I decided to allocate my portfolio almost entirely into real estate.

If each partner is taking a distribution equal to the size of their original contribution, equity allocations should remain in line with the original percent shares.

Now that its December, and San Diego did not receive enough applications for the lottery, Tier 3 and Tier 4 permits are still open, until all have been allocated.

My spouse and I will be allocating more than 100 hours managing and working in this business.

You can come up with the fairest way to allocate costs, and some one will complain it's too much.

Even a few days ago apparently there was an extra $500 sitting on the table with my current rate and all the seller concessions allocated so I asked if the appraisal could be reimbursed so now I'm am confused as to why these latest numbers have me bringing ~ $1,400 more than my down payment to closing.Any advice is appreciated as I wait for an explanation from the lender. 

When I ask about cash to start investing, I literally have the cash, and am curious how much capital you think I should allocate to this endeavor.