Also, because this is my first property, having common area/exterior/roof maintenance is attractive.

$275 on a $500 apt is 4.5% of annual rent, $35 on same apt is .6% off your top line.These items should be part of the construction/improvement inspection and not some arbitrary re-rent inspection (did you make any improvement?)

I live in Chicago, and being a city guy I am interested in starting out by investing in smaller multi family dwellings (2, 3, 4 flats) doing minor rehab/repair work, maximizing rent potential, minimizing maintenance costs by managing the buildings and tenants myself, and holding on to them for a while and see what I can make of it.

I think more of what you are asking is how the occupancy level and accuracy will affect what kind of loan you can get and how much you will put down and how much the debt service will be.A regular lender at 90% occupied maybe 6.5% fixed at 75% ltv.If you get into value add deals you will pay points and a much higher rate to fund and lower LTV.You will then need to refi after stabilizing about 1 year out.So you build the carrying costs into the amount of time needed.The books will determine the verified income and actual costs.From there you run your desired cap going in and that tells you around the price you want to pay.Now if the books are out of normal standard margins you have to ask yourself why that is (deferred maintenance,undisclosed credits to tenants,disguising fees paid to themselves in other line items,etc.)

When you factor in the 50% reserve, this is basically saying that you take 50% of the top of the gross rents and save this for maintenance, repairs, and other operating expenses.

In part the article said, "Initial notices of foreclosure, the start of the process, jumped 6% in the second quarter from a year earlier, the first annual increase since 2009, according to RealtyTrac Inc."

Many of the successful firms involved with real estate have returns around 8.0% to 9.0% annually.

Meanwhile, she would pay for everything (taxes, insurance, maintenance).

If so, they are really wasting tax dollars doing general maintenance on the weekend.

Tons of things to look for, but in my experience when viewing a property with tenants already in it, here are a few:- Deferred maintenance / repairs needed