If this is your first deal, you're likely going to have a rate in the 11%s with approximately 3 points...give or take.

This also leads owners to ASSUME simpler is better when it comes to management contracts.

And yes, we have had to switch floorplans in a few situations, but now from experiance we can avoid lots that we anticipate will cause this issue.

Possible a dry wall access, could be cased, whatever requires minimum work. 

I know that co-star offers this, but I don't have that budget, I am okay with spending 100-200 a month for software to practice with and learn.

With this new reality it is imperative that buyers are aware of these expenses prior to submitting offers on homes; they should also be aware of the risk that these costs can appreciate aggressively.https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna163853

Is this common, or are we overpaying due to lack of competition?

This is completely appropriate - except that wasn't how I was going to use it. 

Not worried about repairs, more just collecting rent from tenants willing to live in this neighborhood.

The main players in this space are Guidance Residential and UIF, but it turns out that they may just be purchasing a Freddie/Fannie loan on the back end to finance the deal and then structure it differently for the buyer - which isn't in accordance with their religious rules.