2) How do you balance upgrades/cap ex to protect investment versus over-investing, because it is not your forever home?

What I suspect is that you are one big cap ex expense from being cash negative.  

I estimate 3k for closing, 65 per month for taxes(that came from Zillow), got a quote of 309 per month for insurance, 10% repair and maintenance, 5% for vacancy, and 5% for cap ex.

Ex-banker hear.

As i said before, I have heard nothing of where your Cap-Ex stands.

Ex.

Operating Expenses (other than management fees): Estimated operating expenses can deviate significantly from one bidder to the next.Cap Ex Costs: Estimated improvement costs can deviate significantly from one bidder to the next.Rent Growth: Estimated rent growth can deviate significantly from one bidder to the next.Cost of Debt: If debt can be assumed and is cheaper than the current market, most bidders will share same input.

TONS of SFR listings in the Troost corridor heading up to the river and then curving East along independence Ave.But they present many challenges; vacancies  (due to below C market tenant pool), increased maintenance and repair costs (due to below C market), and increased cap ex due to homes in this particular region being older (many century homes).Then, even if at the end of the year it does well from a financial analysis standpoint, you may struggle to find the necessary and diligent and high performing property mgmt necessary to manage said property…so then if you self manage OOS, you will need a strong ‘boots on the ground’ team.many challenges come with these ‘$ sexy’ properties.

especially if cashflow is your priority, you may be more likely to find it OUTSIDE of a turnkey company. no shade at all to RTR, but you've BEEN putting in the work on your own already (ex: doing the bootcamps), & if you're willing to keep going the extra mile, you can probably find a more profitable deal on your own. - what about closing in a trust whose beneficiary is a canadian LLC?

Cap ex is not easy to absorb and the "excel pro-forma"  rarely materializes as reality.