Also, I'm not sure if you are demoing an existing structure, if the structure is freestanding, etc, but this will obviously greatly affect your overall budget.For our project, most of the material prices are in line with expectations, but where we've been shocked with recent increases is the soft cost. 

Obviously don't buy a deal that will put you in the hole every month but don't expect that you are going to be good on $300/mo. in cash flow either.

Whilst there were no obvious structural issues caused by the settling, the evidence was there for a trained and impartial eye to see. 

Bedrooms are obviously important, but so are bathrooms with 5 unrelated people. 

Obviously if you need to sell or refi you may nerd to take action as you did. 

This can end up costing thousands more dollars, which can obviously affect your margins. 

Doing it that way also allows you to get a general idea of how much income is needed to at least be close to breaking even. obviously being close to the break even line is not where anyone wants to be but it is interesting and useful metric.

I keep thinking about tools that can help me reduce risk by catching errors or red flags in seller disclosures and inspection docs, but that's likely because I've had a bad experiences with both.A simple and obvious example is a seller checking "No" for pests section, such as Scorpions and Snakes in Arizona when the property is in the desert, so obviously, there will be snakes and scorpions. 

I recommend at least 10%, and obviously, something closer to 20% is a lot better.Is the borrower going to live in the home, or is this an investment property?

Obviously if the value is low that's one thing, but what if I pay and they deny me for some other reason?