In my calculations, I save for vacancy as part of the money I set aside monthly, Over the past 4 yrs I have studied, read, taken classes, watched, and listen to everything I could to teach myself about Real Estate Investing, so I could do it right when I had the money saved to spend to mitigate the risks as much as I can.

I could see property values down or up 15% within the next 12 months. 5-10 yrs I remain bullish on All of the Bay area counties due to fundamental lack of supply.

I have tried to use the tools but I am at a lost with all the terms...I am a little embarrassed to share this since I left the corporate world(oil & gas industry)after 36 yrs retired as a regional manager.

I simply wanted to get some more data points as to what others have found more useful in the long run.Also, already perused through related forum posts and most are 3+ yrs older. 

The reason capital expenditures were a bit lower was because the roof, the windows and other upgrades have been made within the past 16 yrs.

Do you want your til death to last 15 yrs? 

I'm a CPA with 12+ yrs of public and private accounting experience.

Purchase price: $148,500 Sale price: $174,500 Purchased with a plan to live in and update over 5 yrs and then sell for a profit.

If you roof is 15 yrs old, that's $62.50/mo for the next 10 years to build up a reserve just for that. 

The best time to plant a tree is 30 yrs ago... second best time is today.You are bound to make mistakes, we all do, just keep making new ones!