Hi Jason,Just some random thoughts on this to bring your knowledge up a little.Everyone is different in how they do this--sometimes the lender will dictate certain amounts for certain things.Some people ride motorcycles without a helmet, some always wear seat belts.It also depends on how deep you pockets are, a Policeman owning the same SFH as a Brain Surgeon might want to have more set aside just in case.Some make a CAPEX, list for their guesstimates of CAPEX outlays based on the HUD guidelines in years of service life remaining for each item.But in (for instance) areas of high winds, things like roofing replacements and insurance reimbursements complicate this.You need to budget for turn cost, and wear and tear also, (re: wear and tear; carpet physically wears out over time, vs. renter spilling red paint on it--where you would charge that to the renters security deposit).The costs in the future will either come from the renter or come from YOU, vacancies, wear and tear, equipment failures, etc...The ones that will come from you, need to be budgeted for--unless you have deep pockets and the amounts seem frivolous to your expendable income and you believe you can just cover them easily.Some people can afford to buy their secretary a new car for her birthday, some have their families huddling around the table eating one can of cold beans for dinner--Ole' one can of beans might not be able to meet the financial needs of CAPEX when it comes due unless he sets it all aside ahead of time.Good Luck!

Offer them lunch, dinner, or something else so that you are creating a “win-win“ for their time and opinion.

Willing to buy dinner to pick your brain : )  - About to embark on my first 10-14 unit multifamily investment in Long Beach California and I've always been a big advocate of talking to experienced professionals to learn lessons and got'cha's prior so looking for local investors. please reach out!

I plan on using the calculators to do some research and present my work to  my wife this weekend over dinner.

We travel, take daily walks together, attend church, assist at the Phoenix mission, garden, hike, keep up on the latest issues, have lunches and dinners with friends, attend family events and sit and stare at the stars.

lol, i don't think bill was speaking literally, although a good dinner never hurts!

If you can make it, a few of us local members are going to grab some dinner/drinks next Monday, 10/14 in SF at Rogue in North Beach.

Do I go out and use that extra $45 to go out to dinner?

Work will be more lunch and breakfast restaurant business and going home side will be more dinner business.

If you do so from a c corporation your dinner it is reported to you will be the fair market value and the corporation must still report a sale of the property.What is highly recommend and things such as a family limited partnership is allows you to send to you do so underneath one umbrella.Walt I will say that most of the information in your post is not correct there are very detailed specific to each property is considered on its own individual basis as to whether or not it was a transaction as a dealer or if it was truly a buy and hold. now if you are doing so as a corporation it gets trickier.