My neighbor is moving to NY for a couple years and would like for me to manage the rental of his house.Are there are factors I should consider for screening/placing a tenant in Seattle versus Tacoma?

I wouldn't rent to someone that is short of my monthly income requirement UNLESS there were sufficient compensating factors that would mitigate my risk (ex. co-signer).

Last, I do explain to all tenants that I will take the combination of best credit, income, and cleanliness factors.

Factor in the rate you pay to your HELOC as worst case scenario, and see if you still cash flow. 

Home values are based off tax assessments with recent sales also factored in .

Appreciation has been the biggest factor on my journey anyway. 

It's a convenience factor for me. 

So based on those two factors I started leaning towards this area of real estate.

I want to roughly factor in a 60% margin after factoring in expenses so even if expenses are under I’ll pull out the additional for any potential cap ex down the road.They said they’d provide a full year rent roll and financials breakdown after contract is accepted but the gave me June.What do you think of these numbers?

As someone who lost over $100k in new construction (you can listen to my podcast on BP if you want to hear more about it, in my signature below), and about the same as you if you factor lost appreciation, losing that kind of money is a very tough lesson.