The 50% rule is related to expenses, which does not include debt service, so your down payment won't affect that.If you're not planning to live in the property, you will have to put down at least 20-25%.

After expenses, which included a special HOA assessment and a month's rent to my agent, 24 payments of $1595 ($38k) left ~$12k in rental profit.

I can get a complete flip done for $30/sf, but that would not include roof, foundation, HVAC, major electrical, or major plumbing.

We recently experienced this exact scenario...the landlord hadn’t raised rents in almost 30 years and the tenants had heat/hot water included!  

As we now close our 14th month of investing we have completed well over 30 deals which include acquiring over 20 rental doors, 6 flips, and several wholetail deals. 

Attached is the result from DealCheck.IO, and includes Capital Expenditure of 5% and Property Management of 10%.I don't know whether this will work or not, it's a PDF file.

This current BRRR will actually profit about $350/mo positive cash flow after all expenses including holdbacks for vacancy, repair, capx, etc.  

Here are the numbers:Original Loan Amount: $ 42,700.00Loan Origination Date: 12/09/2013First Payment Due Date: 01/01/2014Last Payment Date: 9/27/2018Current Loan Balance: $ 41,802.77Current Interest Rate: 9.900%Current P&I Payment:$ 371.57Current Escrow Payment:$ 30.43Maturity Date:12/01/2043Term Remaining: 302Loan Type :CFDFMV: $87,500The WorkoutWe picked up this asset for $18,500 ( 44% of UPB)Expense Cost: $2000 (Includes, servicing, initial due diligence, forced place insurance, back taxes and misc)Contingency Fund $2,500All in Cost= $23,0008 Months of Payments = $2968Reinstatemet fee from borrower = $2000Total Income received $4968We sold this property after 1 year as a re-performer for $35,500 (Approximately 85% of UPB)$35,500 + $4968 = $40,468 Total ROI = 76%We're excited with how this one turned out and can't wait to see what we will do with our next one!

As a licensed CA agent, the Seller probably has a duty to disclose that they are a licensed agent.You didn't know they were an agent when you submitted your offer, so you didn't include it in your offer.In their counteroffer, they are adding a disclosure into the agreement that they are an agent, as they are presumably required to do by the state of California.While I don't know the whole circumstances, nor am I licensed in California, that seems fairly normal to me.

Your total expenses (not including debt service) is coming in at 30% of GSR, that's really low, like REALLY low.