Yet, even with us acting as a tenant and paying rent, the Cap Rate is around 2% and we still have extra overhead to pay. 

Track every income and expense you incur and/or are responsible for in report form and review them regularly with others you know and try to possibly reduce the expenses or increase income.In the beginning especially, always do this when you are looking at properties you are to buy, you do the math anaysis and try to look at the subject properties before you make an offer or at least have clause in the sales contract that allows you some time (usually 10 to 15 days) to make a detailed inspection of the subject property and possibly back out without a penalty that hurts you too bad.I found BP about 19 months ago while at home and medically recovering when I needed something that was more flexible than a typical 9 to 5 job and I was qualified for at 60.  

People will not be very trusting of you until you have some sort of track record.

Track all of the expenses and income in report form and have 3rd parties to help you possibly save on expenses o growing income. 

Does anyone have a solution to integrate Quickbooks with the reports from Appfolio and also provide some investment tracking?

I closely track the PL of every project and with major rehabs the holding time durring renovation and extra "suprises" seem to eat away at the bottom line.

Using private money tacks established track record and personal connections mostly.

ARV - $165,000Estimated Rehab - $26,500Purchase - $90,500Expected Profit (as Flip) - $19,267.71Expected Rent - $1,500/monthI picked up this 4/2.5 house in Selma (just outside San Antonio, TX), and figured I'd start a Deal Diary to track the progress and ask questions.

In the northwest I've seen builder's cost before overhead and profit go from $75/SF to over $100/SF for the average custom single family in the last 5 years.

Please let me know if there is a better way to think of this problem if I'm not on the right track.