I too am not a big fan of the loss model but don’t know if it is better to have more reserves.

Just another acquisition model for you to consider and in my opinion a lot easier than dealing directly with an occupied house with the seller living in it.  

If you've got a good broker around you go talk to them about what they can find.During the crunch back around 2008 and the following 5 years the broker model struggled because many banks closed their wholesale lines down but the mortgage broker business is booming again because many people are starting to understand the value of an independent mortgage broker. 

I was born into the buy them and hold them model.

Most people have transferable skills (accountants and engineers being good with numbers; people from the service industry are good with customers or high touch business models; marketing professionals know how to build a crowd). 

{I see that the calculators are still {incorrectly} classifying CapEX as an expense}When modelling a project like this, I tend to be very conservative {upside surprises are more enjoyable than downside ones}.  

I just want to model them and hopeful also build a portfolio in the next few years .

They have both proven the model and the street is rewarding them.

Same builder has bought a new subdivision and is building same model and floorplan of our current home at almost 100k higher price points.

Put your operating strategy into an underwriting model.