My current calculated cost comes out to -$500 in cash flow.

When calculating the cost basis of a home, is it permissible to use the allocation of building to land from the county property tax assessment instead of an appraisal?  

The other 3/4ths of the property is an investment property and I'll bet they've been declaring rent and depreciating and writing off expenses on it for their period of ownership.

I looked into it more and decided to run a calculation and report on the Flip Calculator.

Here's my thinking.The cash flow, ROI, and potential margins from Multi-Family seems to consistently outweigh that of single family- from what I've calculated- without a great increase in investment total or difference in sale value.

If you havent seen it, I bet you it hasnt happened.I would get your lawyer to file a 30 day notice or whatever your state/county has for a lease that is being ended NOW... 

View report*This link comes directly from our calculators, based on information input by the member who posted.

I completely agree with you that 'gambling', or what I prefer to see as calculated risk taking, is certainly part of the game.

The BP calculators are a great start for analyzing deals and I have also built my own financial model I help investors analyze deals (have an example on my website below).

It may just be that I'm going to have to look for deals another way, but it's got me worried I'm doing something wrong in my initial estimates.Here's how I'm calculating my estimates, using a current duplex on the market as an example.