I dealt with evictions, unexpected repairs, and the ups and downs of tenant relationships—but I also made huge strides in improving the property’s value and financial performance.

.- Build Relationships with Vendors: Getting quotes from local contractors or vendors for common maintenance or repair tasks can give you a clearer picture of recurring costs.

I was able to replenish emergency fund money I had to dip into for furnishing, was able to pay off a hot tub, was able to replace 2 garage doors and paid for a larger repair this year.

Or enter "for repairs" and take photographs of expensive new stuff for court...but they may be paying down credit cards.

You'll need 20% down plus reserves for other costs as well as repairs and vacancies. 

They do an inspection, look for potential costs with repairs and produce a final report.

The LLC would essentially serve as a business checking account to collect rental payments from your roommates/tenants and potential write-offs for expenses such as property repairs/maintenance.

Deduct NEW property taxes after you buyDeduct home insurance costsDeduct maintenance percentage, typically 10%Deduct vacancy+tenant nonperformance percentage(we recommend 5% for Class A, 10% Class B, 20% Class C, good luck with Class D)Deduct whatever dollar/percentage of cashflow you wantNow, what you have left over is the amount for debt service.Enter it into a mortgage calculator, with current interest rate for an investment property, to determine your maximum mortgage amount.Divide the mortgage amount by either 75% or 80%, depending on the required down payment percentage - this is your tentative price to offer.If the property needs repairs, you'll want to deduct 110%-120% of the estimated repairs from this amount.Be sure to also research the ARV and make sure it's 10-20% higher than your tentative purchase price.As long as the ARV checks out, this is the purchase price to offer.It is probably significantly below the asking price.

Work thru what you would bid on the house, what you think repairs would be, what you think your ARV would be.

He's essentially lost $150K.Run the numbers if he was renting it for 5 years (minus mortgage, property taxes, repairs, etc).