@Destiny Prince Personally, I prefer to allocate vacancy of 8%, which equated to roughly one month a year that the unit is vacant.

Our original plan was to invest in Clayton County, hence all the areas described above.We're using the BP deal calculator and looking to get to a monthly cash flow number of $200/month with a return of at least 10% (after all expenses allocated for: PITI, CapEx 10%, R&M 8%, vacancy 8%, property management 8% and other PM "other fees" 4%.

How we allocate our personal capital (including equity in existing properties) is an important decision.

Probably need to allocate some of your $100k example purchase price to land which isn't depreciable or amortizable."

Sounds like stocks are an afterthought for you compared to REI but I'd love to get a clearer picture of what the allocation / timing looks like for you.

After allocating for taxes, repairs, CAPX, and loan.

But, to your question: I allocate $50k to buy each property but I don't always need to use the full amount.

You'll allocate the original property into two.

Part of me is weighing whether or not I should just pass on this deal and just purchase 5 or 6 nice turnkey properties (sorry, I know that's a very newbie-ish comment to make.. and a total disregard for proper asset allocation).

A split use property where the investment allocation is $500K and the primary side is $500K would be a perfect replacement.2.