Here is a link to life cycle information on products.   

I plan on trading up properties within a 20 year span after purchase, so I take the typical approach of a good asphalt shingle knowing that I probably have one re-roof to take on during my life cycle of holding the property.

You can utilize an architect for this, but as I say in my Lifecycle post, you should learn this for yourself ultimately. 

I think you can try to time your real estate investing with your life cycle some... 

Once you get a ball rolling of equity, debt and cash flow you can have properties in various life cycles.

Leverage of course impacts cash flow so if you're nearing the end of your earning life cycle and looking exclusively for cash flow then leverage may not be the way.  

I'm currently creating a "cheatsheet" for the process of purchasing a new investment.I mean as for the team you need:- agent, inspector, contractor, lawyer etc- steps for finding deals is way to much- but after finding a deal, what to inspect, life-cycle of the deal, estimating the price cost, rehab cost, arv, rent etcThe more I could place on paper it would be better, I'll do it on google docs and share it for the professional comments and suggestion, but I could do that only after 10 posts :)

I ran a life cycle cost analysis and it just makes damn good financial sense.

This application would cover a gap that I believe currently exists when it comes to managing the tenant lifecycle.

I recently had this very conversation in person with a "we buy houses" guy and it struck me how at different stages in our life cycles, we have different goals.