Got into the home with a low down payment , made repairs, rented and refinanced to pay off line and eliminate the PMI.

Repairs: Add a pool ($77.7K).

The $100-$300/month amount is just a generalization - but the point is, on a monthly basis you don't see a huge income per property - and you also have to absorb repair expenses and such as well.   

Acquisition Target: $730K-$780K; ARV: $900K; Repairs: $120K.

Self-managed but outsourcing repairs and maintenance 8%, self-managed DIY repairs and maintenance 10%.

The turn will typically cost at least one 1 month rent and then the freshening/repair costs.

Repairs: Add a pool ($65K).

Mine was also out of state, in a town I’d never visited, and I relied heavily on videos from my agent.This sounds like a tough first deal, but it seems like you have some capital on the side, which will be useful as you face the upcoming challenges and learn from those expensive early mistakes.Regarding the subject of this post, “help me adjust my expectations,” I’d recommend assuming that; repairs will cost twice as much as you estimate, maintenance and vacancy rates will likely double from your initial projections, there’s a very real chance you may lose money on this deal.That said, there are ways to mitigate these risks by:- Keep asking questions here on BP and connecting with local experts- Stay proactive and communicative with your agent and property manager.And remember “Inspect what you expect.”Im not trying to discourage you but to help reset your expectations.

I perhaps naively went ahead with the registration and inspection after completing purchase of the home, and wound up with a hefty repairs bill of around 3k.

Hard Money will usually finance 90% of your purchase price and 100% of your repair cost up to 70 or 75% ARV (after repair value).