Management expense is a huge cushion when things go south.

The appraiser will point out to the end buyer all the issues in the inspector report, including that the roof is in its third stage of its life and will need to be replaced soon. 2)If this is your first rehab, I'd add an additional 10 % of your current rehab expenses as a cushion.

That is  extra free cash flow, a huge cushion that even if expenses where to be much higher than given, you would still have huge cashflow to make you sleep soundly at night.

I would just make sure you have a cushion built into your goal.

We are keeping our single family home and renting it out for 900$ per month--no this doesn't give us cash flow at all...but the mortgage is paid and we have a small cushion.

It's far from easy to find market growth AND cash flow at the same time, but where I was looking at markets where cash flow is king before, I'm now starting to think I should emphasize growth a bit more so long I still have a decent cash flow cushion. 

Let's guess that your brother doesn't give it to you, just in case and let's leave a little cushion okay? 

I want to have a nice financial cushion on my first investment.

With a decent cash cushion and reined in spending we feel ready to move forward with real estate. 

I once read that you should only invest your money after having a "cushion" saved up for these kinds of emergencies.