Purchase price: $270,000 Cash invested: $20,000 Sale price: $360,000 Purchased a house to rent out and complete smaller but necessary renovations and cosmetic updates over time.

So, I would be very conservative (for your standpoint) on the researched estimate.I would do what I suggested above, then if the tenant takes you to small claims court you explain to the judge the legislative time restrictions you were under in order to come up with an accurate repair expense.This is yet another example of how "tenant protection" laws, in practice, end up hurting the tenant in the end.

Rent is paid on time, and no problems with the general inspections at the beginning. 

The time to close might be harder I would look at heloc.

Now I spend my time making sure new investors entering the market do not make the same mistakes my wife and I made. 

Using 50% rule (expenses excluding P&i is 50% of rent) here are the numbers;1800 (rent) - $900 (expenses) - 1468 (heloc) = negative $568/monthAt your rent point with that size unit, your expenses will ve less than depicted by the 50% rule, so let’s use a likely more accurate 40%1800 - 720 (expenses) - 1468 = negative $388/monthNow let’s imagine you self manage and you time is not worth anything (I strongly recommend believing your time is worth less or worth less than a quality PM would charge) with 8% further reduction so expenses are down to 32%1800 - 576 (expenses) - 1468 = negative $244/month. 

I've had rentals for awhile now, but this is the first time something like this has come up. 

Start ups are hard, expensive, and take a long time to get going.Have you looked on Bizbuysell, Crexi, or Loopnet, to see if there is one that is already going for sale?

@Dana Lenoir Hi Dana, I broker notes from time to time.

Realtors, supposedly the experts) think is a going value at this point in time.