Also, do you use your management company for every aspect, including booking the rentals, or are you using sites like VRBO and homeaway to book and just using the management companies for cleaning/maintenance?

Low maintenance, (Hopefully) well kept, you get some amenities built in, market value protection, etc.My plan was to own my condo, and buy houses for investments.

Our maintenance expense in newark historically runs about 10% The 6 family buildings can be the toughest to manage and fill as compared to larger 10+ units or 2-3 family homes.

Now, a residential tenant may not be required to do maintenance, this is a tax issue and you as the landlord must depreciate and expense maintenance, the IRS requires it!

A deal where the payments required are less than the rent you could reasonably expect (minus the expenses--don't forget to include maintenance, management, and vacancies as expenses) can make it possible to purchase the property while capturing some cash flow.      

Dana hit on a lot of important points, the vacancy assumptions of 5% for a vacation rental are unrealistic, HOA or maintenance on SFR are incredibly low.  

If you can afford the higher grade of tile, it will pay you back in the long run in fewer maintenance repairs down the road. 

You are there as an investor to help them sell their house as is and take the stress and uncertainty away by offering to buy.Look for houses with deferred maintenance such as bad roofs, peeling paint, an old driveway, original 1950s windows are great targets.

In your situation, I'd be making sure anything you buy doesn't directly affect your educational processes, but always remember, it's a business, and any business needs attention - even your Property manager will require a portion of your time (maybe 30-60 minutes per month) - answering emails regarding maintenance, querying invoices, etc!

It looks like there won't be much need of repair -- I estimate $5000 at most.All the utilities are split out for the 3 units, except for water, which is $200/quarter.If I estimate 10% Vacancy, 10% repairs and maintenance, 5% capital expenditures, and 10% property management fees (I will mange it myself), I get NOI $11,362, cashflow -$212, CoC return of -3%I believe it's in a good location/neighborhood, one that I wouldn't mind living in, and it's close to Newark Airport.I would really appreciate your thoughts.