Scott's books:http://www.amazon.com/Book-Flipping-Houses-Residen...andhttp://www.amazon.com/Book-Estimating-Rehab-Costs-...I'm just finishing up both of them now. 

What would you estimate your investment horizon/holding period to be on a multifamily investment and what would you estimate your cost of funds to be?

This will be conservative but you want to error on the conservative side for estimating purposes.

The changes will merge the HUD-1 Settlement Statement, the Good Faith Estimate, and the Truth-in-Lending disclosure form into two new closing forms: a Loan Estimate and a Closing DisclosureExpect delays with closings going forward!

If I buy a house at $50k and estimate the repairs to be around $30k would my loan be for $80k?

In an auction environment you can exceed 10, 15 nor maybe 20% of a reasonable estimated market value, but that market is also different, it's not like dealing one on one.Predatory waters is my description for acts or attitudes that expose you to much higher risks of violating applicable laws, it's not a law itself (but can be specifically in certain aspects).

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.

I lived in one unit and my brother lived in another and I estimated it would take 5 years for rents to catch up with our mortgage. 

I would get help from a realtor on estimating ARV and/or pull comps to get a better idea.

Scott's books and started reading ( I got the one on buying and rehabbing and the one that actually shows you how to estimate rehabbing costs).