Lots of posts and opinions on this topic, many of which state that 50% deposit upfront is unreasonable which I agree with.Clearly the laws in other states differ dramatically from CA as contractors are not allowed to charge more than a $1000 deposit upfront at contract signing.

With that said, I don’t believe we will see dramatic changes in the economy before December due to the upcoming elections, so you probably have time to get out while you can.

New York and California however often can be dramatic ($400-$500K per door) but in most of the other states the variance shouldn't be too drastic.Of course the sample can always be controlled just like a regular RE comp to utilize mostly companies that operate in markets similar to yours to refine the accuracy of the product.You can also use sites like loopnet to gather the sales price of apartments listed in a similar market along with the number of rooms to compute average price per door/room.

Prices have increased  dramatically here in the past 2-3 years.Balch Springs and Fruitdale are good areas if you can find something, I have sold to a couple SFH to BRRRR investors there in the last week.

My experience is that investors have poured into Durham in the past two years, pushing prices up dramatically.

Though there are many similarities with duplexes and apartment buildings, they are also dramatically different.I'd start by getting a good commercial real estate calculator (you can contact me for recommendations if you'd like).

These people were paying eventually, but every week there seemed to be a dramatic 'I need to talk to you' episode. 

(It grows dramatically every day) So that means there is just tons of expertise on most every topic in the Real Estate space.

Debt costs can make more break a deal and keeping the hard money loan on it will surely eat into your profits dramatically.

Cost of sale is low (3%, I assume this represents just broker commissions) but the additional costs (atty fees, title costs, etc) shouldn't affect returns dramatically.