I'm looking at acquiring my first rental property and I'm having a tough time assessing the proper expense ratio. 

I prefer the townhome option over a single family house even though I hate paying for HOA fees and how unpredictable they can be and suddenly rise or have an assessment.

Before you donate money, please take a step back and assess who you plan to donate to, how responsible they are, what their goals are, and what they plan to do with the money.

Hi BP Community,My partner and I are real estate investors in Texas, and we're currently assessing the viability of a one-for-one giving model, where a buyer would purchase a new-build, and we would use as much of the profit as needed to build a home in certain regions in Peru (where my family is from). 

Don't forget to investigate if there are special assessments now or on the horizon. 

My suggestion would be to assess your big picture goals, and then explore your options with this property to see what gets you closest. 

Had posted a BP post while I was in the process of rehab, read it as well to get more context.https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/597/topics/810809-my-current-brrrr-deal-in-progress-and-need-contractor-references?

@Andrew Daus keep me posted on your progress!

Friend of a friend had a vacant property that he planned on fixing, one thing led to another and 7 years went by without any progress.

You've made so much progress and in some tricky times.