I start with the assumption that I am *not* going to put more than $25,000 into a property, "All in."

The VA stated under "loan assumptions"-there is no policy in place for owner occupancy as it has been satisfied by my brother already under VA terms, BUT lender might have a different policy.

I have a concern that a potential realtor, which has no social/referral connection to me and my social circle, may make favorable assumptions regarding vacancy, capex, location, etc.

The lender (in this case Freddie Mac) will typically require that the Buyer to replace all those funds at closing as one of the contingencies in their approval of the assumption.  

My whole assumption is based on the estimate that I can build the unit for around 80K.

Then the market went the other direction and he filed for bankruptcy.This is clearly an unconventional strategy, but I think it does a great job of reflecting the optimism in an appreciating market and how people can justify deals that ordinarily wouldn’t make sense by developing specific strategies based on the assumption of market growth.When real estate is this hot, I think that unfortunately, there is a need to stick to fundamentals while you wait for the market adjustment to demolish the bankroll of all of the overzealous investors and speculators out there.

Have you done your pre work with the county inspectors and applied for all your necessary building permits in advance or are you simply operating on assumptions.

I recently downloaded @J Scott rental analysis spreadsheet which does a good job of mapping out a year-by-year ROI based on several assumptions. that you must enter. 

Using your apartment example and adding these assumptions: -security deposit equals rent-Invest the funds in a bond fund earning 4-5% simple interest (Simplified for the sake of argument and ignoring the massive bond sell off due to inflation concerns going on right now.)This yields a $12-15k increase in cashflow, which for this property that has a $2.16M NOI, is around a 1% increase.

So don't come off as this guys assumption that 230 becomes 210 is crazy.