I love participating and sharing on the forums here.It helps me to learn, network and understand what others are doing.One should design their systems in such a way that they have sufficient time for participating in activities which add more value to oneself and others.80% of the results come from 20% of the work you do.

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).

Here are the stats.Listed Price: $850 / MoMarket Range: $800 - $975 / MoMy Unit: Above Average compared to marketAnd, here are the results so far:Inquires to rent: 48 (in under 24 hours)Showings Held: 8 (So far, more scheduled)Applications 3 (So far)The only problem is all of the people that applied so far have credit under 650 and the person above 650 has an income of 2.7x of rent.

Part of my inquiry is, given my closing costs are low (no loan origination fee), in what range should my maximum allowable offer land?

Another picture is NOT sufficient. 

The price of the duplex was somewhere in the range of $7000.

When I refinance the house I’ll be getting in the ballpark range of $30,000-$40,000.

Those funding sources are public record.I would also become the squeaky wheel who wouldn't miss a single one of their REI meetings until the word was sufficiently spread about how they do business.The support you will find on this site is great but getting your money back, or some/most of it, will be better.

The metrics seem to be in the range I've learned about, but it's my first deal and I'd sure appreciate far more experienced eyes to look at these numbers and tell me if you see something wrong.

Depending on where you are investing you can find 3 and 4 Unit buildings in the $90-120k range in Southern Illinois.