In general I use somewhere between $100 and $150 per month with the additional assumption that I have funds to cover things that need to be done sooner so I'm not relying ONLY on these set-asides but using it more for the overall cash flow calculation.So with my approach that one lump sum would be between $350 and $400 per month.Excellent that you are running your numbers in a logical manner!!

I'm familiar with IRR, and I could see it having a place as an output in my analysis.My main goal is to capture the most commonly used metrics -- and based on the people I've talked to, books I've read, podcasts I've listened to, and blogs I've read, the most commonly used ones seem to be cash flow, CoC Return, and Cap Rate -- and allow a person to compare many properties using all of these metrics simultaneously without any a priori assumptions about which ones carry more weight than others.

I agree that she sounds like she will be a good tenant, but do not make assumptions.

Needless to say the new unit has a low pressure shutoff switch installed.Making some assumptions here but it seems like its not a huge ROI considering it seems you may have 50-60K of equity that's netting you potentially $111 a month.My personal opinion (making some assumptions again)... sounds like you've got a nice home in a nice area close to the metro; I would sell, avoid the capital gains, and invest in a not as nice rental that is similar bed/bath/sqft or further from the city.I'm not an expert by any means and I am not comfortable with cap rates as low as a lot of investors here (who have been doing it a lot longer than me) are.

The foundation repair company salespeople (and even owners, in some case) of structure companies are not engineers and though they may be right most of the time, there will be gaps in their assumptions.

On proposals I have seen cost seg providers show the tax benefit as if you are in the 37% bracket, and with the assumption that you can take the entire loss. 

Hi @Joseph Franco, I think the majority of us would highly recommend a house hack as the best way to get started in RE given your situation; lots of good comments by @Emily Di on this.For kicks I decided to do a deep dive on some local numbers in San Diego to see what this looks like to provide you with some high level assumptions.

I believe you are a member of the HOA so if someone is suing the HOA they are kind of indirectly suing you (but that is my 100% shot in the dark assumption).

The assumption is 20% down with 5% APR over 30 yrs, if take vacancy and maintenance into consideration, there is pretty much no cash flow. 2.

I'm a total newbie so I've run the numbers two dozen times with conservative assumptions on everything (high vacancy, high repair costs, etc.)