If you think you can only get $200/month extra from the rent... that's not a lot of room for error, should something go wrong or get broken and needs replacement.

I have seen swat teams raid neighboring units managed by slum lords who didn't screen tenants, I have dealt with abusive boyfriends putting my tenant in the hospital, broken down cars (which leads to them missing work because they can't afford to fix the car, which then leads to them loosing their job and then getting behind on rent), being threatened with a gun (guy lifted up his shirt showing me the gun in his belt), to countless sob stories. 

I have a multi under contract with the bank soon to expect the offer (based on seller's agent).

I will not buy based on seller's pro forma expectations.

OREO =  Other Real Estate Owned             its a banking term that most bankers never want to hear and quite prevalent in the GFC. and I had my fair share as a lender as well.. these are when you making originations that you expect to perform then they don't and you have to foreclose... when you buy a bad note or NPN not sure what you call the asset as you half expected to get it back.. half expected to turn your borrower around and or end up with the asset.

Since I know nothing about the area, I'm curious what I could reasonably expect for rent.

I definitely understand where you're coming from, although I should note that this was actually not in the kind of neighborhood you would expect this kind of thing to happen.

I know some products that will actually let you count "expected" income from a rental property...meaning an appraiser will appraise it and also give an estimate of monthly income that the property would bring in that can actually be used towards your total income.

After lining everything up for the deal, the new appraisals finally came in right before closing and they were 80k less than the 2 yr old appraisals. it was still enough to get the deal done but not what we expected at all. 

My apologies if this is a stupid question, but something's been bugging me for the past few days and I can't seem to find an answer for it.I've been renting 2-4 bedroom units in Chicago for the past 12 years and recen...