Again, just something to think about when building in margin.A few things to budget for:1. 

But we move on and we keep on trucking.

But when I bid at auction for trucks and equipment , I bid 1 time , thats it .

Is it the low or free service call or is it how nice their trucks are and where there HQ are located?

The market is Compton is one of my target areas and I know properties in those price points are desirable to buyers under a certain budget.

  $300 is nearly 10% of your overall budget, so there may be better ways to spend that money, in this instance.

But from experience, there is usually a lot more work than expected, hidden problems, and they turn out to cost a lot more than you budgeted.

I have a property manager on the ground but her findings are only a couple of contractors whose bids are out of my budget.

It is REALLY easy to under budget and over spend and in this market there is little room for error. 

Not to mention a couple of $4.00 coffees a day and no clue what brown bagging is.I'd bet that most college grads spent more time learning the ins and outs of student loans than budgeting and financial planning.