Albert Zheng if you understand Cashflow with all expenses included not the kind you tell you friends you will sell.

Hi, I'm on my first flip and have all these great and expensive ideas.

The exterior of the house is sound, and the only big expense I foresee to come my way in the next 7 years is replacing all of the windows in the house.

As an investor, using OPM(other people's money -- a mortgage), the purchase price and mortgage payments will dominate the cash-on-cash and cap-rate calculations.Yes, we would all like a Class A property for $1.95, but somewhere in reality is the balance for what can I get as rents and not have the expenses drive me to the poor house.Highly recommend the Calculators here on BP to evaluate the possible ROI using realistic numbers for each property.

I say “Yep”.When the bank came back with the increase in EMD from $500 to $2500, I asked my agent if that was because they wanted to increase the likelihood that I would not walk.She said that she believed that was the case.So, I believe at this point, ensuring I close is more important than the sales price.Plus I already stated that $17,500 was best and final.So, I countered back at $17,500 with $2500 EMD.It was accepted.My lender couldn’t believe it.After closing, the bank and I discussed financing options.Since it ended up being all my cash for the purchase, we decided on a construction to permanent loan.We got an appraisal value for its as-is condition and it’s ARV.When analyzing the property, I tried to be conservative and used a $120,000 ARV.As-is condition came back at $60,000, and ARV came back at $145,000.Comps were had to come by, as this is a small, rural town and there hadn’t been many homes sold recently.The bank would ultimately lend me up to 75% of the ARV, or $101,000 in 4 draws.The loan would be interest only during the renovation, and convert to a mortgage when completed.The loan is 10 year fixed at 6.25% with a 25 year amortization.Projected costs: Electrical work--$5,300Renovations--$64,000Zoning Hearing for approval for conversion--$1,500Insurance, permits, property taxes, and other holding costs--$2000Total Budget--$73,800Renovation took just under 3 months, with virtually no surprises.The electrician came in at budget, and the renovations had $4,000 in overages.With the purchase price, loan costs, and renovations, I am right at $101,000.I also believe that if I chose to get a new appraisal, it would come in much higher, as since the first one, a few houses in the area have sold and would support a higher value.So here’s a quick run-down on the numbers:All-in price:$101,000Value:$145,000Income:$850/month x 2=$1700Monthly Expenses: Maintenance 10%:$170Capex 10%:$170Vacancy 5%:85Electric:$20Trash:$55Insurance:$100Property Taxes:$185.33Mortgage:$666.27Total:$1451.60Monthly Cashflow--$248.40Money in the deal—ZERO DOLLARSYes, I know that I did not account for property management in my numbers.The reason is that there is industry moving into the area, and higher paying jobs as well.I believe that rents will increase and support property management down the road, if I choose.If that doesn’t happen, well then I’m stuck managing forever or selling it at some point, but it is a risk I am willing to take at this point.Is this deal a home run?

These are my standards with every home I buy/sell.The best way to minimize you risk is to buy more expensive properties, that may have lower returns (on paper) than the cheaper homes.$800 + rents seem to have less issues.

I used to want to trade up, but multi's are very expensive and difficult to find a deal. 

If you are planning to rehab to resell and the money will only be tied up a short time, cash is a great idea or you could look into a hard money loan, however those can be extremely expensive.

I use a property manager so that is an added expense but he has been a god send to this point.  

My point would be: if your DTI is higher than 49%, how would you be making money from it anyway (given that the rest of your expenses to run the property are likely to be circa 50% of its income)?