I just listened to the James Wise episode 127 and the first impression was all the difference.

When all said and done you’re pretty much going to end up with a property you could have just bought off the mls and done some cosmetic stuff to (numbers wise) but you did get the experience of doing a rehab which is probably more valuable than any money you’re gonna make on deal number one.

Be safe and don't work ahead of your competence levelIf you know what it would cost you to buy material to do something and you know what it would take you time wise, you can work backwards into a contractor's bid and figure out the equivalent hourly rate you are paying, which is a great place to start working a bid down.

Hello, 
I’ve been in the education phase of my real estate journey. I’ve been listening to the podcast and reading as much as I can. I have a few books that I’ve read but I sometimes can feel a little overwhelmed by ...

But, as you point out, it eventually will be in that 5th year, if your prediction holds true.So, if I were confident that $15K is the correct repair cost, and also that 5 years was the likely time-frame, then I would wisely set aside that $3K each year as an actual expense that would come out of income and go into a separate CAPEX account for accounting purposes.I would then adjust my NOI number accordingly and recalculate CoC.

I think it depends on what you're looking to do investment wise.

What should I be looking for price wise that clarifies a good deal?

Conservative is good but if your market is consistently at 95% conservative might be underwriting at 93% and checking to see how things looked occupancy wise back in 08-10 to double check bad scenarios.

Starting out with your first rental allows you more flexibility, the more units you scale it would be wise to have a more thorough and consistent process.Cash:  Most people will advise against cash because it's hard to track and inconvenient.  11% of American's don't have bank accounts though, sometimes this might be your only option. 

Not much else matters finish wise on the inside or the outside as long as it looks presentable and it's clean somebody's going to rent it, but TIME is way more important than the other stuff because I want to get it rented as soon as possible.