It is absolutely appropriate, because it illustrates what happens when reserves are not saved up for.In many states, including WI, laws have been enacted that require HOA's to keep adequate reserves.

If the property rents for $500 per month, and assuming you had no other expenses (not true, but for illustration purposes), you are going to show an annual income for that property of $2,560 instead of $6,000.

REIS is a good data provider that illustrates local economic data along with sale, cap rate, vacancy, and rent growth trends in local markets.     

I came across this piece of advice that seems like it could be useful.How to talk to zoning boards - illustrated

In other words, for illustration, if her initial contribution to the IRA LLC was $2,000 and mine was $1,000 (for a total of $3,000 at start), any future year's IRA contributions would need to be at the same 2:1 ratio and that we both couldn't contribute $2,000 each without risk of becoming disqualified?

However, if the numbers are on the tighter side then forcing the repair might be a good option to use and still close the deal.I would assume that if you were able to get responses from a number of others on the site they would probably say things like I am going to list here.1) Problems can seem small and simple at first but grow larger in a hurry - it happens.2) Depending on the type of shower/tub installed in the above unit it may be more than a simple fix and get into much more money than you think - you won't know until you open the ceiling for sure.3) After the plumbing repair you could be looking at mold potentially in the joist spacing area between units.4) Depending on the length of time the issue has existed and been patched to get by you may also have damage to the wood - joists between units and or sub floor issues under the upper unit tub/shower.5) If there is insulation between the two units, you may have soaked and degraded insulation that needs to be replaced as well - good news is that rock and insul are cheap to replace.6) OR......... you may have someone open it up to fix it and its just a simple plumbing issue and is a quick and easy fix - totally possible too.Just as an illustration, I went to replace a bath faucet for an accountant friend of mine yesterday.

Simple illustration -Bob has a house that he inherited from his grandmother.

The $600 figure is just to illustrate a point.    

@Justin Hamel, sorry didn't mean to hijack your conversation, but I think the conversation does help illustrate that there are all sorts of ways to make money in REI and you never know where you are going to find a niche. 

The first two properties I highlighted were cherry-picked to illustrate some typical but pretty negative aspects of the current market.