The house is also on the market (for sale as a rental property), which makes me wonder if they hoped it would become someone else's problem before we discovered it.I followed up by calling the realtor selling the property and asked some general questions, and slipped in a few about the wiring and split utilities.

But once all these needed repairs were discovered, things looked pretty bleak.Glad to hear others agreeing that this is no good, I'm out

It's inspiring and she will discover something new from the last time she read it.

You could possibly say below market was a "good" cap rate but you'd want to compare each component of your NOI against each component of your cap rate comps to determine if your below market cap rate purchase was a "deal".The reason you can't use a cap rate on small residential properties is that THERE ARE NO RELIABLE CAP RATE COMPS!! 

For example, you get the house under contract for $100K, you estimate the ARV based on after-rehab value comps at $210K, but you discover the house needs $90K in renovation.

Some components of the ETF could be doing great, while others are struggling.

I discovered Bigger Pockets online and knew this was a great choice to really help me move forward with my real estate investment plan.

You're beginning to discover your unfair advantages already!

LOLI honestly can't think of a better explanation than @Brandon Turner's good ol' site realestateinyourtwenties.com.See: http://realestateinyourtwenties.com/blog/cap-rates...A cap rate is a tool used to discover the value of an income producing investment property.

I actually stumbled across BiggerPockets looking for legal services to advise me on wholesaling properties, and started reading in the form and discover there is a whole wealth of knowledge here and decided to join.