I want to buy for cash flow and put down 5% conventional loan or fha but areas taxes /salt is making it hard.

Take it with a grain of salt since the owner could have the property blocked for themselves part of the time.

I personally take wholesalers estimate with a grain of salt no matter how much experience that person has.

I am mainly looking at big metro area in the west part of the country (Dallas, Denver, Salt lake city, Pheonix, Dallas etc.).

For investment properties, it appears that my clients are all writing off ALL mortgage interest and ALL property taxes.Primary residence, they are writing off interest on the first $750k and zero on property taxes (they are already at the $10k SALT cap).Our President is a real estate mogul, lo and behold tax reform didn't hurt real estate investors at all.

@Lisa Kiu if it was me I would think about taking next month's rent, and then getting the pet fee. because then you have an entire month to really put on the pressure and figure something out....this is coming from somebody that is currently writing their first lease agreement soo... salt?

Hey Ben, I'm new as well so take what I say with a grain of salt. 1) lowest interest rate I've seen for invest properties is 5.5% - you have 5% 2) If you're dropping $10K for repairs, I would say you can drop your maintenance down to 5% 3) Ive seen monthly insurance costs between $50-$75 All-in-all looks like even your conservative numbers are solid with 11% CoC. 

When a investor tells you what their cash flow or ROI is you should take it with a grain of salt if they have not sold the property.  

@Matthew G. ask any financial advisor if they are a fiduciary, if not then take anything they say with a grain of salt.  

Maintenance costs are much higher due to the salt contamination in the air, strong winds, and occasional flooding.