Can I assume that if it does not meet the 50% rule i can find the difference then subtract that amount from the cash flow and that would show the real number?

So if you know the current sale value, you would have to find 75% and then subtract the existing balance (and 2-3% in closing costs for the new loan) to find out how much new money you can actually pull out to use for spending on other investments.

When I acquire the my duplex back in 2017, the tax assessment for the land was about 50k.I subtracted that from my purchase price 300k to get 250k depreciable value.

Ours comes out to about $2000 in operating costs every month, it has been pretty steady at that for the last two years.Before making the offer, we took our estimated money coming in from renting and subtracted the money coming out for operating costs to see how how close to break even we were.

"Thank you for buying our house" Seller's are not daft or stupid...heck I bought a house from a trial attorney that makes $300/hr....I wholesaled it...during the negotiation, he ask so how much do u wanna make...i said $20K and he said subtract it and give me the rest....we did the deal....Seller's know what agents do, but they choose to call investors cos we can close fast and quick without the hassle of showings, staging, cleaning, fixing, and so on....sellers know investors are not non-profit organizations.

Here's how:  First, project your income in future years by taking the rent you expect to achieve each year, and subtract economic vacancy for each year. 

Add to that capital improvements and then subtract deprecation. 

From that monthly average the PITIA is subtracted.

Looking in the low 100s and plan to put 20% down.I'm trying to understand everything that get's factored into ROI, the following assumes $100k purchase price.Downpayment - $20,000Interest on loan - $5-6k/year need to get amortization calculatorTaxes/Insurance - $2000/yearHOA $3600/yearMaintenance $1000/yearAbout $12k/year to hold the property - rent in this area doesn't seem to be much more than $1200 optimistically - so looking at making $2600 on $20,000 or around 12%, then subtract taxes off that.

Now subtract your closing costs on the buy and sell sides, subtract your 5-6% commissions on the sale and your insurance costs for vacant house insurance and builder's risk insurance (or you can take a chance and not get this insurance).It sounds like your $125K with 5% back sounds like it might be a good offer, but you'll need to double check your repair costs in your local area and exactly what is needed for plumbing, paint and flooring, to make sure it pencils out.If you are seeing that the repairs will take 40-50k, then your offer needs to be much lower than 125k to make your 30% cut.