I am through module 1 of Kai's course and it is definitely like drinking water out of a fire hydrant.

If you have a 6 bedroom in an area that does not have a university (students looking for shared space) or is in a family friendly place it may sit vacant longer between tenants.For Capex, try not to use a generic number - look at the roof, furnace, hot water tank, kitchen - when will each need to be done and what will it cost?

Its extremely important when running tighter margins like what you're talking about to focus on age of HVAC, water heater, appliances, roof, etc.

The agent said this is likely a market standard.

In addition, I will also be paying much closer attention to water flow patterns and signs of erosion around our next investment!  

Still, if you’ve got someone on the ground who truly knows how to navigate these waters, it’s like being handed a map with all the back roads highlighted.

Given this is where my major operating expenses fell (beyond taxes and insurance), keeping this cost lower, by average, helps my cash flow.I invest in older neighborhoods, so the 2-4 unit properties, typically have single water meter, maybe single electric, and many have radiator heat with a single boiler.  

With the lower price point rentals, you basically just tread water.

I think there are two maybe 3 ways to look at this in my mind.  1) you go into it and bring it all up to modern standards but using that old charm to basically take what is there bring it up to modern standards and rent it out essentially I'm thinking cocktail bar or something trendy like that.2) most banks are on really good centrally located real estate if this is true, then I'd consider it for the dirt, plan to scrape the lot and go vertical with whatever the highest and best use is.3) a kind of combo of the two, if the lot is in a good location and its doable, pull the vaults or other "character pieces" out of the building, scrape the lot, and build whatever is best suited for the site there, but incorporate those historical pieces into the final designs.Is the site near a major retail area? 

This is of course assuming it's a 2-4 bed / 2 ba SFH wood or CBS frame SFH on a standard lot.