I gave them both a free month lease back for furniture or a low price for the homes.

Cannot be a low property value (less than $150k) 

To answer your question, 10% seems to be on the low end of what I typically see.  

Henderson City offered a low 3.5% interest loan for redevelopment.

(horrendously low appraisals don't count!) 

@Ryan G.Those numbers sound reasonable. 40k rehab may be a little low for most projects.

@Raz MalikIn Ohio both the Columbus and Cleveland markets are great for investing in from out of state since they are landlord-friendly, and have a low barrier of entry and cash flow.

Do you have credit cards with places like Lowes and Home Depot that you can use to buy materials now and not need to pay off for maybe 90 days?

Many investors want to invest in real estate, but find it too expensive where they live, so they turn to our market in Memphis, TN (Workforce City), attracted by the low barrier to entry and cash flow potential.

 $1800 (high end of rent range) - $1535 (hopefully mortgage includes full PITI) - $90 (5% vacancy) - $400 maintenance/cap ex - $180 PM (at that low rent point I am using 10% all inclusive) - $50 misc (bookkeeping, utilities that are not tenant responsibility such as slab leak, tax man, allocation of asset protection, etc).