You want the net income after all expenses like, maintenance, utilities, taxes, insurance, property management (if needed), if the property is vacant figure that in, and Cap Expenditures (any big ticket items that might need fixing or replacing once you own), things like the A/C unit, water heater etc.

Page 1 has the little "funny business" column that (for the overwhelming majority of my loans, at least) just reads "no" all the way down.

Things are always going to be more expensive when you are several states away as you have to rely on paying others to do everything for you.

Rates from 7 to 12%We roll the closing costs into the dealThe only out of pocket expense is for valuation and processing (generally $295)Step Two:  The refinance and holdNo seasoning on title. 

Tax breaks will get you 25 cents back for every dollar you spend, not a good trade.What is an acceptable rate of return for your cash net of expenses each year? 

You might have other legal expenses, like evictions, though.Also, I have commonly heard between 5-10% vacancy.Personally, I have tried running numbers on a lot of homes with 8-10% vacancy, and 5-10% for each of capex, maintenance and property management, and nothing ever comes close to working out.I think I'm going to just budget like $200-300/month for maintenance and capex, forget about property management (because that's my job, for now), and pray!  

@Anthony Dooley Your absolutely  right that was the problem i was facing, so many niches to choose from it was slightly overwhelming trying to narrow down the choices to just one or 2.

The inspectors are overwhelmed as it is, so they mainly focus on complaint$ and known problem-contractor$ on permit, not driving the neighborhood looking for new construction.

The market in Utah seems to be pretty expensive, so I'm considering out of state opportunities.

Also, I have found HD and lowes to be about 2 to 3 times more expensive then what the cost should be.