Id say there is no average or standard.

I don't want to move to Florida right now because I'd have to take a salary cut which would reduce my standard of living and would reduce my opportunities (i.e. direct mail marketing) for off-market properties.I’ve been studying and reading about flipping houses for the past year.I currently have a W2.

I am not an attorney, but at a minimum, you're going to need (1) adequate property insurance, (2) a standard lease agreement, (3) a method for vetting tenants/doing background checks, (4) a method for collection of rent, and (5) possibly a license for the property to be operated as a rental (you will have to check the requirements in your jurisdiction).

You'll want to search for a 'How Much House Can I Afford' calculator in lieu of a standard mortgage calculator.

@Bruce Woodruff Intel just committed 10s of Billions of dollars to new manufacturing facilities in Chandler.

I've rented a small storage facility and are keeping an extra refrigerator and range in there for those type of situations.

Several mid-range builders have started included it as a standard option, so it's becoming more of a norm in that 250k+ price range. 

So old and fallen apart, there are a couple of occupants in the two buildings living off the government paycheck, but it's definitely not going to pass any minimum standard conditions if ever thought of section 8 ....

Banks require 3-12 months of reserves per property and most will allow you to use a certain percentage of retirement accounts (75% seems pretty standard) to count towards reserves.

I know it happens, but does anyone do this as a standard practice, or do you just move on and focus on the next lead?