I haven't heard of this approach from a lender requiring a surety bond - so make sure you do your due diligence.When I bought a 200+ unit deal I used a surety bond for the utility deposits, which was a great strategy and it saved me over $30k. 

Are you putting any money into the property for maintenance, repairs or utilities? 

I have 2 former primary's one from spouse now valued @90k rented for 16 yrs @800 and a mortgaged (176k balance and 15yrs to go) Luxury condo @300k leased @2k.

Investing out of state can be difficult, however if you can utilize all of your current knowledge and now just partner with a talented, sophisticated, strong track record Turnkey provider, this will be a breeze and in-fact may turn into a new lifestyle for you. 

I have a retirement account from a previous employer. It contains around $23,000. I was considering trying to use this money to help in purchasing my next property. However, this account, while I'm no longer contribut...

I want your honest opinion on short term rentals vs long term rentals I've read the pros and cons to short term rentals were you get a daily rate they tend to generally make more money but the owner is responsible for utilities .

(BTW, the owner is completely broke to the point where he had all utilities in the home turned off at least for the past year bc he cannot afford to pay them.

I have no clue how much this bill would be in your area)Trash $- Heat/Utilities $- HOA $- Cap Ex and Ops $200.00 (This the fund that will replace common hallway lightbulbs and the roof eventuallyInsurance $125.00 (assumption)Mgmt Fee $300.00 (10% of total rents.  

Hi Scott,There isn't a whole lot of information to work with in your post without knowing where the home is located (to see if your rent estimate is good), whether the maintenance cost is reasonable given the age/condition of house, etc.The two main questions I'd have on the info you did provide are whether you're accounting for vacancy, utilities, and property management costs, even if you're initially expecting to self-manage.Regards,Mike

You definitely don't want them cutting off the utilities for that long.You could also ask for the rent up front for the time he will be out.