@Eric Bilderback I Don't know any 'rules of thumb' for this situation, but I would be most concerned about when the electrical and plumbing were redone, check the foundation, hvac systems and roof.  

I am interested in knowing how to factor in possible plumbing related issues.

I took a deeper dive, and listened to may of the podcast episodes that Sean had put out, as well as the BP podcast episodes where the various methods of wholesalers were revealed in interview after interview.I found many similarities among what I'd read and heard on the podcasts:Direct Mail is a very popular way to goYou'll likely need to spend thousands in marketing dollars (most likely using yellow letters and postcards) to get the deals coming in to youOnce you get one deal, the rest snowballCommit to one marketing strategy, bandit signs may work but they tend to be the least favored here on BP (due to their "uglying up a neighborhood" and the fact that many times they are illegal and get removed)So I get the general gist of this but the questions I still have unanswered are:How does one know what is the right legal language to put on contracts?  

We got our first duplex using this method.

Item Cost Life years Months Cost Per Month Roof $ 6,000.00 25 300 $ 20.00 HVAC $ 4,500.00 15 180 $ 25.00 Hot H2O $ 550.00 8 96 $ 5.73 Flooring Carpet $ 1,800.00 5 60 $ 30.00 Flooring Laminate Wood $ 1,800.00 10 120 $ 15.00 Interior Paint $ 2,500.00 6 72 $ 34.72 Exterior Paint $ 3,000.00 8 96 $ 31.25 Revamp Plumbing $ 1,500.00 20 240 $ 6.25 Revamp Electrical $ 3,500.00 30 360 $ 9.72 Misc $ 200.00 1 12 $ 16.67 Monthly CapEx Allowance _ _ _ $ 179.34 

There is no secret method to finding deal in TX.

Again, i used the percentage method as a first go round.  80x12x10 = $9,600So to sum up, my GSI calculation for the deal So based on my new #s, it looks like the purchase price should be around the $400k mark, not the $650k mark based on the provide cap rate.Now reviewing the pro forma #s in a rental calculator, this deal does cash flow (assuming 20%down and financing).   

I thought about direct mail as the best method.  

I'm very interested in this buying method and would love to pick someone's brain on this topic.

You lose 6 months time of cash availability (perhaps 4.5 months since it does take time to get the refinance) where you may have been able to buy 2 or 3 more properties in that same 6 month time frame using my method rather than buying with cash.With my method I pay no lending costs with my first purchase since I use loan documents already created by an attorney for another loan for which I participated.