What most people don't seem to get is that the small percentage 3-7% in most cases gets severely chopped up and goes to many different parties or expenses.

Purchase data:Asking price: $85,000My offer price: $73,500ARV: (per Redfin sold data) ±$110,000 Rehab: guessing around $10,000Closing/inspection, etc: $650 (i have no clue on this number)Holding Costs: $1,147 assuming about 2 months for rehabCash Purchase - all in for $85,297Income data:Rent: $1,050 per month (from zillow area rent data)Expenses (monthly):HOA: $17Insurance: $60Taxes: $166.67Vacancy: $52.50Repairs/maint: $52.50CapEx: $105.00Property Management: $105.00Total: $558.67NOI: $491.33 ($5,896 annual)Refinance:LTV: 75% of ARVLoan amount: $82,500 @3.75% for 30 years (estimated)Payment: $382.07Refi fees: $2,500 (assumed)Total cash invested post refi: $5,297.33  ( I'm not sure if i calculated this number correctly, any input would help me greatly!!)

In the grand scheme of things it's not a lot of money but TRIG is less expensive, more established, and seems to be overall better.

Then landlords tried putting a cap on the utility bills, for example: anything over $300 tenant pays, but students didn't like it because they thought everything was included and now they're getting a random bill which they didn't budget into their expenses.

Doesn't look too bad depending on how accurate your expense number are.

I am working on doing some wholesale and flip deals in SoCal as well, a little further East of you where it's not quite as expensive...

This has all recently changed in the last couple months and I wish I began sooner because I've learned a ton.My goal here is to network with other investors and wholesalers, learn from success stories and/or failures, hear about what other people are doing to find deals in expensive markets like mine (Boston), and hopefully I can help others out as well.Looking forward to connecting with more investors who share the same goals and investing interests as me.

I ran the numbers on all 5 properties together and this is what I got:Monthly Income: $6,050.00Monthly Expenses: $4,887.45Monthly Cashflow: $1,162.55Pro Forma Cap Rate: 7.28%NOI: $29,862.00Total Cash Needed: $174,000.00Cash on Cash ROI: 8.02%Purchase Cap Rate: 10.74%Down Payment:$31,000.00Loan Amount:$247,000.00Loan Points:$0.00Loan Fees:Amortized Over:30 yearsLoan Interest Rate:5.000%Monthly P&I:$1,325.95I over estimated for repairs and other fees and underestimated cost of rent.

FYI I'm in Massachusetts where everything is expensive.

Can this direct mail expense be attributed directly to the purchased property in some form as an expense?