All of these 'unexpected' expenses are actually VERY PREDICTABLE if you understand the business.

BTW - Both posted from the same IP, as predicted - 125.22.249.142 - from Chennai, India.

We all know Cook county is corrupt but I never knew how corrupt until I talked to a guy who's worked real estate deals in the US, South America and Europe and said the most corrupt government in the 3 continents he's ever had to deal with was Cook County, Illinois.It's easy to predict the results you buy and it became clear to me that the "oracle" should probably be named the "manipulator".Tim

Everyone thinks they are the one person who can see a coming crash....and some of the bears are bound to be right simply because they always predict a downturn, but they are wrong most of the time as the markets spend a much higher percentage of time going up than going down.Peter Lynch, one of the greatest investors of modern times though astutely pointed out that far more money has been lost by people trying to anticipate market corrections than has actually been lost in market corrections.

as a contractor and investor i can tell u that there is no per square foot price on any rehab. i rehabbed aa 1200 sf home for 5k andput 15k into 900 sf home. unforeseen issues are what cost the most. anyone can put in a new door for 500 dollars, but if you find theres no header or framing is bad, you will now have extras. i usually find that every simple repair tends to have extras that you cant predict.

Whatever calculator you use, you will want to factor in your estimate of the predictable appreciation that you mention.  

Excuse my tablet typos, this thing has predictive text based on typos in the first place. 

It's not about predicting the market so much as not taking on too much risk.

I predict a softening real estate market for at least the next 2 years in mid and Northern Wyoming. 

BTW, I know none of us can predict what future values will be, if the market is turning down, I will hold  as a rental.