I finally understand that credit card payments are exempt from needing to send 1099's.

Deduct NEW property taxes after you buyDeduct home insurance costsDeduct maintenance percentage, typically 10%Deduct vacancy+tenant nonperformance percentage(we recommend 5% for Class A, 10% Class B, 20% Class C, good luck with Class D)Deduct whatever dollar/percentage of cashflow you wantNow, what you have left over is the amount for debt service.Enter it into a mortgage calculator, with current interest rate for an investment property, to determine your maximum mortgage amount.Divide the mortgage amount by either 75% or 80%, depending on the required down payment percentage - this is your tentative price to offer.If the property needs repairs, you'll want to deduct 110%-120% of the estimated repairs from this amount.Be sure to also research the ARV and make sure it's 10-20% higher than your tentative purchase price.As long as the ARV checks out, this is the purchase price to offer.It is probably significantly below the asking price.

I do direct booking through the Houfy website, taking credit card payment by Square. 

You have to weigh the benefit of the insurance claim payment versus potentially having your carrier cancel you and perhaps get black-balled by the insurance industry.

@Isaac Hanai make sure you FULLY understand the negatives of S8 programs, not just the mirage of consistent government rent payments.

Rentals also build equity through tenant payments and appreciation, with profits taxed at lower long-term capital gains rates when sold.

What would stop him from just not coming back to finish once he gets the last payment from you?

And people think Ai is going to replace accountants.one can argue that apartments.com is just a processing the payment and not actually holding the funds to transfer out.If apartments.com all of a sudden reverses the payment for insufficient funds?

I really don't have the $23k down payment I'd need for a DSCR, and Texas wont let me HELOC the equity out of my other rentals. 

They have decent rental markets, and there are options where you could get in with a 20% down payment.