Rents may drop but property values will decrease at a greater rate to compensate.

Here's my snag: I may be changing jobs in the next 6 months to a year, and with that job change comes a concomitant substantial pay decrease.

As interest rates rise, purchasing power decreases because borrowing funds becomes more expensive.

Conversely, if you're only planning on paint, then your contingency would likely decrease significantly.  

However you trade that for extra tax fillings, employment concerns for officers and decreased attractiveness to lenders.  

I was worried about the inquiries into our credit as well but the decrease was really minimal

Also realize the dollar values may need to be increased or decreased for your area, so this is just a broad idea.It's probably a good idea to have a contractor come do a walkthrough with you and at least give you a ballpark estimate too.

@Corey Grant It up north of me Corey between Nac and Henderson.

LLCs can in intertwined with all sorts of others entities that allow people to manage tax liability and decrease risk.

2) build in other buffers, for example, I personally include water $50/mo. in my numbers... so if for instance rent rates decrease in my area or taxes increase or any other number things, I can drop water and have the tenant pay for such in future listings.