always remember the important thing is what your audience (investor) wants.How safe is the investment and why, how much money can he expect to make and why,,not BS numbers, but solid numbers that you can show of specific houses that are for sale now (or recently), what the rental income would be, and the entire breakdown showing your calculating projected maintenance, vacancy etc.You HAVE TO KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT,,what will interest the investor is your knowledge, showing you have done your homework,,you have to do a lot more reseach before your ready to pitch anyone (unless they are a relative, but even then I recommend a lot more research,,,talk to investors in your area,,,,get to know your market,,after you have done all that a 'business plan' is just an outline of how you plan to move forward, what is important is the thought/expertise you have put into itI once knew an MBA from UCLA that couldn't accomplish anything,,he could write fancy reports, business plans,,but when it came to actually performing,,he fell short,.

So we have a very unique busienss plan.We don't follow the 1%, 2% or 50% ruleWe invest in appreciating market/rent areaInvest in Class A propertiesSelf-Management- Saving management fees and regaining controlLow Vacancies - nothing to dateIn general we follow the south west airlines model.

We don't follow the 1%, 2% or 50% ruleWe invest in appreciating market/rent areaInvest in Class A propertiesSelf-Management- Saving management fees and regaining controlLow Vacancies - nothing to dateIn general we follow the south west airlines model.

@Bill Jacobsen , What do you normally use for your vacancy/mngmt/repair costs?  

After all of that they will take the current rents use AL LEAST 10% vacancy, even if it is 100% rented.

My PITI (principal, interest, taxes, and insurance) expenses will be about $700/mo (our taxes are very high), so, not including maintenance, management and vacancy, it will cash flow between $400 and $500 per month.  

So far, my expenses include the following:- Property Taxes: 1.25% of purchase price- Rental Insurance: 0.5% of purchase price- Management Fees: 10% of gross rent- Vacancy Rate: 10% of gross rent- Repairs & Capex: 10% of gross rent- Utilities: (garbage, sewer, water): 10% of gross rent- Mortgage: 30 year with 20% down paymentWith these assumption, I get negative cash flow in my area.  

This property fell into our lap and we have been unsuccessful filling the vacancy.  

Arlington, Marysville (less than 1% physical vacancy), Stanwood, Everett, Mukilteo, Snohomish, Monroe, Sultan, University Place, Fircrest, Lakewood, Tacoma, Puyallup, Sumner, Gig Harbor, Milton, Allenmore, Midland, Spanaway, Bonney Lake, Dupont

Ideally you could create a pool to begin with (maybe even just use the existing pool of tenants) and compare against that for each new vacancy, rather than comparing against the new sample.Also...it is probably too complicated for most people to actually emulate.