When evaluating a multi where the existing tenants' rents are way below market, so I use them to run the numbers it should I use market rents?

That's why it is so interesting to get peoples' opinions on these kinds of stats.I know we can't evaluate their specific results without knowing more about the numbers that go into the calculation, but I was more interested in peoples' opinions on the general conclusions and what people think of the markets that are supposedly overvalued.

Create an excel doc, or use the docs available here on BP ( for pro members only) to create a LEGIT property evaluation sheet that you can present to a creative investor.

When you submit your offer, make sure you have a due diligence period that gives you enough time to do these inspections.Once you get the property under contract, have the septic company do their inspection, have an engineer visit if necessary and get your property inspector out to do a full property inspection -- if he is concerned about a major plumbing issue or mold issue, you can get those specialty trades out to take a look and give you an estimate.If it turns out there is a bunch of extra work in these areas (or ANY areas) that you didn't expect, you go back to the seller and basically say, "Hey, there were hidden defects that I needed to bring in specialty contractors to evaluate, and here are the reports they provided. 

Help, I am trying to evaluate a property in the calculator to find out what my cash flow is but when I put in the numbers I get some crazy results back. 

If you want to learn about a specific market the best way is to evaluate properties in that market over and over again and eventually you will get a good sense of good and bad areas as well as what a particular home is worth.

 What are some recommendations in making sure you effectively evaluate how much money it costs to repair a fixer-upper?

They hired some in-house technical talent to evaluate deals.   

I bout a duplex in 2013 that i fixed up and lived in one unit for a few years while renting out the other half, I got married and my wife and i bought a single family home for us. 

@Walter Ciucevich There are lot of sophisticated ways to evaluate multi family properties.