Go on Zillow, type in your zip code and the bed/bath count, and see what is currently for rent.

Unfortunately, those are treated as personal expenses and aren’t deductible.As for the repairs and improvements, fixing leaky pipes counts as a repair and can be fully expensed in the current year.

However, if you have a solid mulit family unit, you can have higher overall rent due to your unit count.

I was shocked as I thought it would be very simple (which it is), but some syndicators will use funny math such as not counting fees, placing expenses on a quarterly or yearly basis when using IRR (backloading to end of year). 

@Cole HarrisKeep in mind that square footage has a lot to do with pricing as much as bedroom count and/or revenue. 

If you are using an FHA you should be able to use 70% of the potential rent from the other units in the building to count towards your income.

If you can have a lease lined up for your unit they shouldn't count your current mortgage against you and could use that "potential" income as income on your DTI. 

They are generous on the values so sometime my actual cash out of pocket is less than 15%, for example, I pay 102K for a house that appraises for 108K, the extra 6K they count towards my down payment so I get a mortgage for 91,800 because that's 85% of 108K and I write a check for about 10K.

And when getting a DSCR Cash out loan, the proceeds from the loan count toward the reserve requirements.  

If you pay that before the end of the month, the reported balance is going to be $0 even if you buy $5k worth of Christmas presents next week, because that float won't count until the next statement closes.