I think you are better off building a little pessimism in and hoping to be happily surprised.

@Scott Robinson IM both surprised and happy for you. im surprised it took that long for your first deal to close, specially having a wife that is an agent and can run numbers for you!

The main reason I have not paid for what they offer is because when I was 54 (now 60) I had a brain anuerism and a stroke very surprisingly.  

Nothing is broken in the house obviously - no leaking or sewage blocked surprisingly.

But, surprisingly there isnt a lot of real estate investors buying through trusts when they should be.

This is YOUR property, no one will care about it more than you will.As @Steve Vaughan said above, make sure to talk with an estate planning lawyer and your CPA so you won't be surprised with a very large bill handed to you by the IRS at the end of the year.Good Luck!

Lender expenses should never be a surprise - rehab is another story...

Standardized contracts are used so both buyer and seller aren't likely to have any surprises from a legal standpoint.

and yeah, some of those home runs are possible, but it's surprisingly tough figuring out what the norm is.10-12% seems like a good minimum...just out of curiosity, why are you offering up what seem to be the "better" deals at 25% or more to JV partners?  

Once you rent it in 2017, the expenses after it is rented can be deducted for 2017 taxes.The tax rules related to rental properties are pretty confusing and surprising at first, you should definitely spend time reading about them and learning as much as possible, whether you decide to use an accountant or not.