Strategies can also vary based on each individual's goals or needs and can vary over an individual's life span....cash flow may be needed at certain stages and not at others.  

However, the house is three floors, and my unit spans 2 of the 3 floors while my tenant's unit spans 1 floor.  

I would urge you to take a look at the online calulators both here at BP, and I also like the one at http://www.dinkytown.com/java/InvestmentProperty.h... ... it looks at things in slightly different terms than the one here at BP - in particular I like to look at what the "average rate of return over the life span" is (I look at it over the years of the loan). 

Those who lose in the market are not diversified in their knowledge, being stuck in one niche or another can be a short life span in business.

I'm a GC, not a structural engineer, but I can't think of any application in which a 30' span would be covered by a tiny 4x6 wood beam with no middle supports.

I derived my cap expense by filling out a spreadsheet with expected costs and expected life spans.  

A professional opinion of what it will take to get the deal done... so figure about three to four hours (probably more) 3 times per week, a bunch of additional back office time, and the benifit of her years of expertise learned in the buying and selling of a couple hundred houses including some of their own flips and rental properties.So, you want this "lazy" agent for whom you have no rspect to put in 50 to 60 hours of time for you over a span of a couple of months... probably much than that.

A contractor just needs to check off a list of updates, they don't need to worry about the life span of those updates or how likely different items are to need frequent repair or maintenance.

Income:Rent = $3570/mo (from the owner)Laundry = $40/mo (my estimate)Total Income = $3610/moExpenses:Operation = $1017/mo (Vacancy 5%, Maintenance 5%, PM 10%, CapEx $295/mo)Fixed = $1047/mo (Taxes $8300/yr, Insurance $2000/yr, Utilities $134/mo, Lawn/Snow $60/mo)Total Expenses = $2064/moNOI = $1505/moCapEx is based on my spreadsheet adding roof, paint, HVAC, water heaters, etc, taking into account the estimated life span and replacement cost of each.  

I make sure the 1x3 is at least 16" long so I will span from stud to stud.