And one effect of the "luxury apartment" boom is that it starts making higher rents elsewhere seem reasonable in comparison.

But once in a while, we'll have a property owner only utilize us for listing their property and finding a tenant. 

Mortgage is one expense, but there is also taxes, insurance, utilities, home owners association and repairs.

ok, now the next question would be what kind of financial options do you have to utilize?

Just am learning that landlord pays tpart of the utilities (2000 per year) so the cash flow number are much less attractive @7.1%.

I have to admit I am intrigued by doing this entire flip without seeing the property because that would allow me to fully utilizing my marketing abilities to go well beyond my current city if I can outsource every step of this process. 2 weeks in and we have an assignable contract with 40K in estimated equity.

I'm not a real estate agent myself, but I've worked with a few over the years, and I know the ones who really make the big money tend to focus on the luxury retail side. 

In my experience, property going up for bid by either a Marshall or sheriff is the most likely to have other liens on them, particularly IRS, property taxes and utilities. 

Is there a super spreadsheet or software out there that can handle things like:-Vacancy of single units in a multi during a rehab and the associated costs (utilities during rehab)-Projected capital expenses at a specific time...parking lot resurfacing in June of year 3-Seasonal expenses like snow removalMy point is that a percentage of something is too generic and does not represent how cash really flows.  

That being said, you may have to tweak your plan a bit, because you won't have the luxury of taking 2-3 years to fix up the place.