While they made your money multiply in ways you've never imagined. 

In my market, renovated homes typically sell for 40-60% more than the assessed value, so it can actually be a very useful screening tool when looking at properties - I know that I can look up the assessed value, multiply it times 1.4 or 1.6, and get an very rough estimate of the ARV.

I live in Eau Claire too and wouldn't mind sitting with you sometime.As far as your questions go...1) I'm not familiar with the 50% rule but ttypically the first calculation I do when looking at a property is the GRM (gross rent multiplier).  

Edit Report Other actions $1,300.00MONTHLY INCOME$1,636.01MONTHLY EXPENSES-$336.01MONTHLY CASHFLOW3.65%PRO FORMA CAP$10,140.00NOI$59,500.00TOTAL CASH NEEDED-6.78%CASH ON CASH ROI3.69%PURCHASE CAP RATEExpensesIncome50% RuleTotal operating expenses:Mortgage expenses:Vacancy:$65.00Repairs:$65.00CapEx:$26.00Management:$143.00P&I:$1,181.01Property Taxes:$156.00 $275,000PURCHASE PRICEPurchase Closing Costs$2,500.00Estimated Repairs$2,000.00Total Project Cost$279,500.00After Repair Value$278,000.00 Down Payment$55,000.00Loan Amount$220,000.00Loan Points$0.00Amortized Over30 yearsLoan Interest Rate5.000%Monthly P&I$1,181.01Total Cash Needed$59,500.00 Financial Info0.47%2% RULE $58,000.00TOTAL INITIAL EQUITY 17.63GROSS RENT MULTIPLIER 0.72DEBT COVERAGE RATIOAnalysis Over Time1% /yearEXPENSE INCREASE 2% /yearINCOME INCREASE 3% /yearPROPERTY VALUE INCREASEYear 1Year 2Year 5Year 10Year 15Year 20Year 30Total Annual Income$15,600.00$15,912.00$16,885.94$18,643.44$20,583.87$22,726.25$27,703.18Total Annual ExpensesOperating ExpensesMortgage Payment$19,632.09$5,460.00$14,172.09$19,686.69$5,514.60$14,172.09$19,853.79$5,681.70$14,172.09$20,143.61$5,971.52$14,172.09$20,448.22$6,276.13$14,172.09$20,768.37$6,596.27$14,172.09$21,458.48$7,286.39$14,172.09Total Annual Cashflow-$4,032.09-$3,774.69-$2,967.85-$1,500.17$135.65$1,957.89$6,244.70Cash on Cash ROI-6.78%-6.34%-4.99%-2.52%0.23%3.29%10.50%Property Value$286,340.00$294,930.20$322,278.19$373,608.75$433,114.94$502,098.92$674,778.97Equity$69,585.80$81,587.87$120,254.98$194,656.21$283,770.34$390,751.93$674,778.97Loan Balance$216,754.20$213,342.33$202,023.21$178,952.54$149,344.60$111,346.99—Total Profit if Sold *-$19,716.89-$12,262.63$14,221.03$73,502.48$154,596.89$261,436.42$572,322.66Annualized Total Return-33.14%-10.90%4.38%8.38%8.91%8.79%8.19%* Property value minus net cash expenditures and sales costs

Now multiply that times 6 (6 x $50k = $300k).CCR is infinite, since you never actually spend the money...it comes back to you with every refi.Joe VilleneuveREcapSystemA2REIC

Personally I find the prospect of having someone else pay my mortgage nice... multiply that many times over where I am providing a good service in the form of reasonable rates and ethical land lording just makes sense. 

I take the price of the property and multiply by 23% (20% down 3% closing costs) and add any repair costs I expect to that, getting my expected cash outlay. 

I calculated my mortgage payments for 285K and they are 1530 with a 5% interest rate for 30 years assuming I dont give a downpayment. 1530 multiplied by 12 gives me a total of 18360 for my years mortgage.

Did you do some weird math genius thing where you multiplied by a number that would give you the same answer by subtracting the Rehabber's Profit?

I prefer to use GRM for this determination.For the sample property you listed, the Gross Rent Multiplier (GRM) is 7.66, which is fairly good for the area.