It is now worth $209,000, rent has covered expenses over the years, do the math it is a return of over 20% annually.  

So to break down the numbers in one line, from the Census Bureau link, the City of South Bend has a population of 101,516, a total of 46,324 housing units (as of the year 2010) of which 18,530 are rentals with a median gross rent of $711.00.As far as the economic profile, since all those tenants need a job so that they can pay the rent :) here is a cut and paste summary of the area by the St.

Others will know better than I but I'd consider avoiding the property manager at first - They are expensive and rarely do a better job that a caring/motivated owner.  

Ann arbor is too expensive and Ypsilanti taxes are high.

How do you calculate the expenses of the property? 

But what I thought they said is to figure out the cash flow and then divide it by two because history has tended to show that unexpected expenses (new water heater in yr 1, roof repair yr 2, etc) tend to eat up about half of your earned cash flow.  

Although its more expensive and takes more effort, you definitely get a high ROI on your marketing compared to the "shotgun" approach. 

I make a decent salary for the Bay area, have a good amount of savings and don't have many expenses outside of rent and student loan payment. 

Want to get feedback from the group.Here are the community statsMetro pop 280,000, up 12%since 2000, up 25% since 1990Unemployment 4.8%Median family income $53,000Median home price $101,00022 lots, 19 tenants, no POHAvg rent is $197, avg market rent $214 Rent includes city water, private septic, trash, lawnEstimated expenses are 49%I got a quote to sub-meter and requesting a $10,000 credit at closing so I can get that done when I purchase.

Im curious what landlords in the Omaha / Bellevue area do for utilities? Is that seperate or included, and if included how much?