I am located in Maryville, TN and looking at a second home in Townsend to use as a getaway/AirBNB.

If these mechanisms are not in place we seek out an amount from seller to be held post closing for repair or replacement of big ticket items.

Believe it or not, you missed a few:Number of petsNumber of homes with/without garagesNumber of 1 story homesNumber of renters with childrenNumber of renters with jobs in the governmentNumber of speeding tickets given out at the main intersectionsList of favorite colors and how many of each. 

@Jon Holdman wow, that’s very comprehensive, well rounded response!

(Save all applications along with notes if necessary surrounding each round of applications)

If you give him $10K down (five figures--nice round #), get him down 1/2 point on the interest rate, and move from a 20 yr am to 30, you'll save about $120/mo on debt service from your current calculation.My bigger question is where are you paying $4800/year in taxes and insurance on an $85K property?

If so, that just might be the ticket.

I can’t afford anything in the NY Metro Area at the moment, so I’m exploring areas in:my home state of Vermont (Southern VT mainly)Keene, NYPittsburgh, PA where my brother livesKingston, NY (Upstate NY area/Catskills)North Adams, MA (college town)I’m trying to stick to areas I have some ties to since it will most likely be an out-of-state situation with a property manager.My goal is to buy a 2-4 unit property that is in decent shape, rent the units, and have one unit for myself to come to when I want to get away from NYC.I’ve been running numbers on both the rental property calculator and the BRRRR calculator with varying results.

Rather I went by line item and estimated on the big ticket items (floors, framing, doors, walls, kitchen, bathroom, electrical, plumbing). 

The next round of companies then said the cost of the house in relation to the cost of the rehab was out of scope for them.