And Rehab Costs would be the cost to tear down and construct the new property, including all hard and soft costs that aren't factored into the Fixed Costs.For example, if I have a house that I can tear down and rebuild a 2000 sf property that would sell for $400K; it would cost $100/sf to tear down and rebuild; I'd have $50K in Fixed Costs; and I'd want a 20% profit on the resale price ($80K), my max purchase price for the tear down would be:MPP = $400K - $50K - $80K - $200K = $70KKeep in mind that the rehab costs must account for all of the following:- Site Planning- Zoning Approvals- Utility Installation- Permits/Impact Fees- Environmental Studies- Etc...If these costs aren't factored into the per-square-foot construction costs, you need to factor them in separately. 

Our appraisal came back at 170K, citing "Fair" functional utility because it is a 1 br/1ba & a recent foreclosure on a comp home lowered the appraisal value.  

.- unless you're doing most of your own maintenance, the lower maintenance costs are attractive- Older houses split into rental units often come with shared, landlord paid utilities which I hate- You'll have less turnover in a newer, nicer placeAll of that to me means more cashflow upfront which you can save up for the second rental.

You'll have utilities on the unit you live in; why is cable an income rather than expense?  

Same example as above.Old property was originally purchased for $400K.Sold for $500K$100K net proceeds (assuming closing costs included to simplify the numbers)Using all $100K net proceeds, new property is purchased for $400K.Since I utilized the entire net proceeds of $100K into the new property, what would I be taxed on?

Having utilized LegalZoom of course they are providing all of these additional services, which are really just contracts to 3rd party vendors.

You can act unilaterally in any way you want to manage improve and utilize the property.D.

You can look up the local utility company and call them to find out the cost of water and sewer.

I just default back to what I do were I can open escrow without a contract and with a phone call.. but that's because of the volume of bizz I do with title company .. and our title plants are digital.. so running a title search is not as big an issue like it is in many east coast states I work in.. were they have to actually hire a title abstractor to physically pull title.. ( old school :))

I am new to BP and look forward to utilizing the resources and forums on this site.