I maintain utilities on this property and I'm curious if this is an expense, along with my PM fees, that I can write off for this tax year? 

But -- the problem is California is ridiculously expensive to build new construction, as you'll have tens of thousands of dollars spent on permits before you even break ground.

How much can your net worth fluctuate daily or even weekly unless you have a huge spike or drop in income/expenses? 

They don’t have to be fancy or expensive.

My insight is to run your numbers very carefully, multiply your anticipated annual expenses by 1.5, and don't forget capex.

That means that your mortgage should be no more than about a half of what your rent would otherwise be, because the property's other expenses will also be about half that rent cost too.But if you DO pay market price, and there IS a down turn, you know where that leaves you?

I was told that those are the only expenses.

g=7wFf )Keep in mind, using the 1% rule of thumb (monthly rents ~= 1% of basis) and 50% expense rule of thumb (operating expense and vacancy ~= 50% of gross rents), unleveraged, results in 6%.

Unfortunately things are very expensive down here (in my opinion) and it doesn't seem to be as simple as in other markets.

I am hoping to make $200/month in cash flow after all the expenses.