When we went to refi, the bank underwrote the expenses at 3500 per unit, and they ended up being correct.If we go into a deal with incorrect expenses, it will blow up the entire deal.  

HARD PASSyou get no benefit, you can't spend the money until the year is up anyway, and no one renting your place should have 15K to blow. if it's legit it's unlikely they would be renting and they would be smart enough to know that paying a year upfront is silly and uncessary.  

Sometimes they'll comp you against a boarded up REO and blow up your refi. 

I am not saying it isn't possible for you to secure it, just want to play devils advocate for a moment.

Coming from California, this just blows my mind!!

You didn't fall into the guru trap, and blow your life savings or get in substantial credit card debt.

Whatever you do, make sure you build quality into the mix or you will have contractors blowing through the job at lighting speed and sacrificing quality-  Be as thorough as possible during the inspection. 

They also have a way of skirting certain heating/air and square footage conundrums because each blower head blows X square footage and not necessarily based on a per room basis.

I am always an advocate of having face to face interaction to start with.

I am a BRRRR advocate and am building for retirement so long term cash flow is important to me.Hope this helps.