I am in the electrical and plumbing rough stages of this rehab. 

Tom Asking price: 840,000Gross rents @ $485 avg: $162,960Vacancy @ 15%: $24,445Effective Gross Income: $138,515ExpensesProperty Management @ 10%: $13,851Property Taxes (2013): $9,412Insurance: $9,800Reserves @ 5%: $6,926Maintenance (plumbing, electrical, misc.): $11,000Association fees (Lawn, Trash, HOA, Grounds Insurance): $7,280Pest Control: $1,344Write Downs / Bad Debts: $2,820Total Expenses: $62,433Net Operating Income: $76,082Cap Rate: 9.1%

One retail tenant is in place, a 1 bedroom and a 2 bedroom apartment are ready to occupy with some plumbing work.

The goal should be to avoid neighborhoods where your plumbing or furnace is likely to be stolen.

Based on our experience with our fourplexes (built in the early 1970s), we are leaning toward buying properties that are newer (no more than about 30 years old), so we can have rentals with copper plumbing, ABS sewer drainlines, etc.

I just finished reading Robert Shemin's Book "21 mistakes that real estate investors make" and in it, it had a section where he talked about writing out a contract for his tenants that makes them responsibile for paying for problems they cause like plumbing or things they broke.

I just knew the roof/ac/plumbing ‘seemed’ ok so that was probably the big ticket items.

I started to only get electrical, plumbing, roof and structural inspections.Now, what should I do for an out of state purchase that I don't get to see in person?

Roofing, Plumbing (leaking, dripping) Ceilings (any water marks?)

Sorry, but I've been in plenty of REO properties where the borrower damaged the property - kitchen cabinets removed completely, flooring removed leaving only the sub-floor, graffiti expletives directed at the bank painted on walls, plumbing damaged, water left running in upstairs bathroom with drain and overflow blocked, etc.