Carlos certain parts of California and New York for example are appreciation driven.Meaning some wealthy people care little about the cash flow but rising annual rents and appreciation on the back end and to cut their taxes with depreciation.In those speculative markets you might not even find anything close to the 50% rule.

I also pay $80 a month for lawn maintenance.

First and foremost I pay all mortgages, taxes and insurance and then any repairs and or maintenance that may be needed next.I then take what is left and split it in half, investing half in the stock market (usually dollar cost averaging into some mutual funds and stocks I like, and the other half goes towards cash reserves for capital expenditures and or savings for another investment.I like to invest a fair part of my rental income into the stock market to diversify and hold hard assets as well as securities that pay dividends to create additional passive income.I am very disciplined have have stuck to this system for about 8 years now andf have created a decent amount of passive income via dicidend paying invesstments as well.Chris

Now, estimate cash flow as:cash flow = (rent * 50%) - P&I paymentNow multiple by 12 to get annual cash flow.

I would think it would just result in deferred maintenance and/or repairs not even being done due to the tenant not wanting to pay for them.

Who pays for repair and maintenance?

When driving a neighborhood, I find its much easier to find properties that seem distressed - with wood exteriors as brick is such low maintenance.

Typical rates are 8-10% annual return on the money.

In this case, I think it's reasonable to expect lower maintenance/CAPEX for a number of years.

However, I don't include maintenance in there, cause I don't want to do it.