As soon as you close get an insurance policy to protect you in case of a loss.  

What I would do is get a licensed GC to view the properties and give you a line item quote to do rehab on all unit, and the outside, and bundle that into your loan/cost, then move fast!

After some pushing we finally got the signed and approved itemized bid along with the 25% deposit on Saturday ( 2 days before we start work...)later in the day they asked if we were licensed and bonded.

Another way to lower capital gains is to sell other related items at a loss.  

It's usually pretty close to a wash, or when I hold the rate constant it's like 20 basis points (to price, not to rate) or something trivial, coin toss which will win on any given day.I prefer to have my direct lender hat on to my broker hat when working on REI deals (not licensed in your state, don't actually bother PMing me) because your situations are always wonky and I need that direct telephone/IM/email line of communication to the assigned decision making underwriter so I can go over your net loss carryover, or weird Schedule C, or funky deposits, or whatever it is, with her and get it resolved in 5 minutes rather than over the course of 5 days of emailing back and forth through some intermediary. 

The other item I didn't budget for are repairs, although my reason is less than stellar in this case.

Right after you close on an improved property get an insurance policy that will protect you if there is a loss.  

Like if I make $3000 on rent per month, but my total costs are stated above are $3,050, do I take a "loss of $50"?

I have been investing in Central Iowa for five years and have had a number of wins and losses.  

The only items they looked at for me was:-3years tax returns-credit check-information about the property... comps, repair costs and intentions for repairs, rental rates....