Unless you have verifiable numbers you should always stay conservative in your analysis.  

I usually use 8% of rent, but that is probably on the conservative side. - Ongoing Repairs - These can be highly variable, but in my portfolio, long term, I was spending $150-200 per unit per month.With about 2 hours of work you can be sure the numbers are spot on. 

I am far more conservative than most investors so I take all of the ways to make money into consideration i.e. cashflow, appreciation, ROI, and tax benefits. 

You may want to reconsider your ultra conservative investment approach in order to grow and actually achieve positive cash flow.If you are buying homes worth 50K or less and renting for $850 + per month you are not doing as badly however you should try to find a way to pull all your dead equity especially before the markets turn and you end up losing it all.Paying off rental properties is not investing it is hoarding of cash and is extreamly expensive.Just food for thought

When a tenant doesn't pay their utilities separately (which will obviously fluctuate in price depending on the season), they have less of an incentive to conserve resources and won't think twice to leave the AC running, lights and TV on, or take long showers, resulting in higher costs for you.

This is a flip, so please try and be conservative with the colors as this new paint needs to appeal the majority of buyers. 3.

I've run the numbers and think we can conservatively double or possibly triple our CoC return out of state. 

Paying 182k for the home, rent is 2k a month conservatively. 

Other things to factor in:-rehab costs-PMI-closing costs-for vacancies, repairs, cap-ex: I typically do 5%/each, 15% total (some may argue to be more conservative on your analysis)As far as the cap rate, my understanding is the cap rate is more so for properties with >4 units.

If your deal underwriting is conservative enough such that the numbers are gonna provide you a fairly large margin anyway, the one-time cost of going to/from your destination should not make or break your numbers.