amount owed on loan-$185k-(FHA)I have done some light rehab to update andI am considering putting 20k in and refinancing to conventional 30 year to lower the payments.

I should expand on Margate that a bunch of big money built $700K+ priced homes on spec but lower priced product is still moving.

You almost make it sound too easy until I read your comments a little lower

My question would be if you want to lower points and pay a higher interest rate, assuming you will refinance what is the closing cost?  

And for the bed/bath combo we want we can't find a place with a lower or similar monthly payments.

Now the brave ones go to lower appreciation states and hope apartments, MF will bring more cash flow for income.

If you hold them longer than a year you should be able to claim profits as long term capital gains which would lower the tax.

This can be higher or lower depending on OT and such.

This is clearly specific facts and circumstances based but I’m curious to know whether based on historical returns you would have decided on a go vs. no go on a property when you were on the fence due to these variable assumptions such as repairs and capex and your historical experience is tipping toward a lower % than the assumptions being used when analyzing.

I think a positive cashflow could be a hedge against a lower than expected ARV.