So just get a full picture and purchase accordingly.Good Luck!

What's cost of eviction action,, it should at least cover court costs..

First l advertise cross streets a block away never exact address, second if someone call I will pre-screen them over the phone; does the price work for your budget, what do you do for a living, can you provide paystubs, can you pass a background check etc. then because I use lockbox most times I never give the code until first they send me a picture of their drivers license and second they are at the house with the lockbox in there hands to prevent them from even writing it down.Also they must call me back as soon as they are done looking before they leave the property for security reasons, make sure the keys are back in the box and combination is shuffled and of course to tell me what think about the place.

Depending on the lender, you will need to have 6 to 12 months of Capital Reserves, to cover Mortgage Payments.

I own many properties in Baltimore, houses and commercial units - almost everyday I get mailings from people who say they want to buy my real estate - I get post cards, handwritten letters - silly yellow letters with hand drawn pictures of dollars signs and stick figures of houses.We all at the office have a good laugh, we comment on how awful their attempt to get seller's interest in selling their real estate. 

I still don't have a clear picture of exactly how I want to invest but I am leaning towards rehabbing rental homes.  

Keep in mind if the description/pictures show the home needed a lot of work, then the price will be lower than normal, and alternatively, if the description/pictures show the home was completely renovated, then the price would be on the upper end.

The location (schools, restaurants, crime, etc) is decent but nothing too promising in terms of appreciation (3% annual average) Here are the details: Purchase price: $170,000Rental Estimate per month: $1500-$1550HOA: $1000/yrInsurance: $1100/yrTax rate: ~3.4%I assumed the following:I use a 20% downpayment on a 30 year fixed conventional loan w/ 4% APRNew build so warranty is covering most things so minor, if any, maintenance will be neededTake into account 1 month of vacancy per yearTake into account annual broker fee to list of one months rent~5K closing costs~2k in appliance purchasesResult: Assuming rent range of $1500-$1550/month and assuming 1 year I wont have to pay the broker fee to list:From my cash flow analysis I am projecting to have positive cash flow of around .02%-2.1% per year.

In my experience, the farther in advance I tell my tenants the better they react.I've heard some landlords say that they raise the rent when their costs go up (such as property taxes) to cover the increase, but that makes no sense. 

Does anyone have a rec for a spreadsheet that shows the basics of P&L associated with a rental property, but also lets you input hold period and value appreciation assumptions so you can get a full picture of the IRR after a sale?