intersection of 282nd and Orient  in Gresham Oregon.. you will see a bare lot on the Northwest corner that's ours.

Gross:The top of a refrigerator was covered in dead German roaches, to the point you could barely make out the color.  

Applicant #1 barely meets my income requirement, but she does meet it.

@Michael Didion I would do central AC on any property unless it was a very bare bones low end unit.

. $166 monthly maintenance will barely cover lawn care, snow removal, basic repairs when a tenant moves out.

I would be very interested to hear from long time investors who have weathered the storms either crashing-and-burning and coming out stronger or simply getting through the cycle bruised but not battered.Having searched for a topic and thread like this one, I don't think there is one quite exploring this aspect of real estate investing where we lay bare all our failures but it would be incredibly instructive to us newbies to learn from those who have gone before and come out the other side weary and with scars to show from the battle.Hope you will find int in yourself to share so those of us who are new can learn.

When I purchased it, I was able to just barely shoehorn it into a conventional loan after no less than five appraisals :-) The property will have a much easier time conforming to a conventional loan now.

The benefits are looser underwriting guidelines, more loan structure flexibility, they loan to LLC's/Corps not just individuals, in-house valuations vs. full appraisals, WAY less paperwork, no hard and fast rule limiting the number of loans you can get, and the speed of getting deals closed is way better.But most importantly, I don't have to bare my financial soul and get questioned about every bit of income/expense every time I want to get a mortgage. 

Combined it is barely 3x, and I am not sure the beautician income can be verified, but makes up a significant enough portion for it to matter.  

With your assumptions on taxes and the usual vacancy/repairs reserves, it barely cash flows.