So in that term, the seller agreed to hold certain amount of money for problem that needed to be fixed in escrow account after closing ( i think they have to put certain percentages higher than the bid from verified contractor).

I’ve not had a chance to research the percentage of households that were renting at the end of the recession as compared to before to see if there might be a potential benefit to having rental property in a period of time when people are not buying homes.Good luck with the first property!!

Such as a percentage of the monthly income or how else would they profit??

Investors are still a small percentage of total transactions. 

I’m not 100% but usually close to current mortgage rates plus a percentage point or 2.

In NYC, it's hard to find deals that cash flow well (higher percentages).  

I have heard of companies that will deal with the machines and the service and take a percentage of the profits every month.

Steve, remember, your closing costs are a one time cost and the taxes you pay are pro rated, so they would not be your full tax amount. you are correct in your percentages for closing costs, I have come up with about the same % on average. when you do your calculations, the closing costs will be included as a one time expense but your NOI will be based on a full year of taxes, not the pro rated tax.

So if you spent $30k on than it should be worth at least $30k more...regardless of what the percentage is.

Though there’s different opinions on what percentage of your monthly income to estimate for repairs, vacancy and turnover generally the numbers are 30-50% of your monthly rent goes to expenses.