Do you think we should add/replace the shower with a shower over tubAnd we did think of @Carolina Solorzano's idea to combine it with the closet next to the bathroom (funny that you said that as if you've seen the house!

@Eric KullingIf it is very faint, you might be able to do ozone treatment on the house and get rid the smell altogether.

I would like to buy my first rental SFH in Poughkeepsie, NY near Marist College. The local medical center is building a 550 million dollar new hospital and transitioning into an academic center and is starting a resid...

(This means you can immediately depreciate it by 100% vs. spreading it out over 27.5 years.Generally speaking, when you combine bonus depreciation and a cost segregation study, on a multifamily asset, you can immediately expense 25-30% of the entire asset in the 1st year!

Hi Kim,They make pet proof carpet padding, and rental carpet typically only has a 5 year life span.Your CAPEX for the carpet should recover some of the cost of replacement if cleaning (and ozone treatment) don't fix it.Given the unlikelihood (in many cases) of actually collecting damages in excess of the damage deposit, renting anyplace to anyone (pets or not) without pet proof padding under the carpet is just asking to lose money.And the Carpet CAPEX should be built into your rent.Pet damage can be expensive and not always recoverable from the tenant, so it's best to assume pets will be in the rental even if the lease says no pets, and install pet proof padding.Some cats (unfixed) spray walls, sometimes just the litter box makes the smell and when that's gone, the smell is gone, but with dogs they all tend to have "Accidents" on the floor.

Or is there a different treatment from when it’s considered a second property?  

Again, talk to your lender.I normally underwrite repairs and CapEx at 15% combined.

Try meetup.com or the Bigger Pockets events section.Any rental property you purchase should be offset by the income it will generate so if you get a duplex that rents for $2000/mo (both sides combined), you will be able to count $1500/mo of that as income you can use to qualify for the next deal.Just make sure your numbers really work well.

That doesn't mean you will not need some money but if you have 10k and you can borrow hard money the two combined could get you in and out of a project thats not too size-able.

The actual cash flow over the holding period is the cash flow contribution to the return rate (combine with  market appreciation, equity pay down, etc).