What happens if you have a dry spell and can’t rent the place for two or three months?

To many people leave their "plans" open ended and it slowly bleeds them financially dry.

I, personally, would reserve $100/mo. for capex in your situation.One thing most folks miss in this stuff is the waste line to the street unless its brand new your going to replace it for 3 to 5k as well over the life.. along with plumbing fixtures etc and maybe even a replumb under the house along with dry rot etc..  

Generally a rent increase of more than 10% is considered excessive, especially if no improvements have been made to the rental unit.  

In a couple of years, the only evidence that anything existed here will be that the grass over this spot with dry up faster in the summer during a dry spell.I think you could get any of the three options for under $2,000.

Of course regrading your whole yard is first component of getting a dry basement. 

This does present a hurdle to RE investors when they are first starting out because most of these new RE investors  do not have much excess cash to cover a large capital expense (or even a moderate cap expense). 

A quick background on me. i served 8 years in the military, and ended up getting out due to excessive amount of time i had to spend away from my family.

With these two categories and excess temps (above 90 degrees).

It was a game changer for me when my traditional financing options dried up!