Let's assume they're in KC and the average rent collected is $1000 a month...That's 32,000 a month in revenue for a company that has 27,000 to 32,000 a month in expenses.  

It's inexpensive and you'll get her new address.

All I can say for me so far is that they handled my POS violations inexpensively, they got a 1 yr lease signed by the existing month to month tenant, and the checks come in every month

Is it typical to assume about 50% of gross income in expenses?

Sounds inexpensive if you are doing the work yourself.Thanks for letting us chime in-JoeG

The condos are very inexpensive relative to the surrounding areas.

In short, educate yourself cheaply first, Attend REIAs, talk to others, read books, jump in inexpensive or even free webinars (I do a free one every month, and all my educational stuff is free on my website). 

For example…for every dollar you increase rent or save in expenses, that $1 actually increases the value of the property by $12-$16 (due to the cap rate).

The reason why I wanted to start out far away from my current home is due to housing prices are inexpensive (30K - 60K), it feels like it would like less risk (money wise) and from what I gather not as many investors are out in this area. 

When I ran it through me spreadsheet, it comeback w/ 5-5.5 cap with 60-65% in expenses and vacancy.