@Samantha Zanotelli- depending on the price and loan amt needed - there are lenders / programs that allow 10% for a jumbo loan scenario ...the payment reserves  requirement will likely be 12-24 months of payments  and you are able to use part of any retirement account balance to meet this requirement 

The landlord is required to return the deposit and/or provide accounting within 30 days of moving out AND providing a forwarding address. 

@Clay TeegardenAmongst the avalanche of nearly identical responses from my fellow accountants about setting money aside and rates and so on, I will repeat a point that I consider crucial:There is no guarantee that you will have any taxable profit when you start flipping.

ONce you put a rental on your return and it has an accounting method in place, you can't go back and change it. 

While the cash allocation is somewhat high, it serves as a reserve for our rental properties and future real estate investments, held in a high-yield savings account.

Open a separate checking account dedicated to marketing and budget 6 months of mail, so if you have $6k, you would do $1k per month with 1/4 of that dropping every week.

We play games called, "lets show the property to a perspective tenant" and "lets go to closing together" and "lets deposit money in your bank account" and "lets review your college fund investments".

If you haven't activated your RentRedi account yet, activate here - it's totally free for Pros!

You have options just need to find them, open accounts, and start investing. 

We have been putting most of our extra money into retirement accounts before this.