. $2650 rentX 12 = $31,800-$15,900 expenses (50% rule) $15,900 NOI= $177K at a 9% cap rateI wouldn't pay a price that high and that is well below asking price.

Your purchase price will want to be 'capped' by the current value of the real property and not the balance.

Right now I found a great ROI deal here in Arizona on an 11 unit apartment complex at $540,000 with a 12% cap rate.

At the current price, rental rate, and using a 50% expense ratio, you come up with a 4.4% cap rate. 

In my accounting books, should I classify this "deferred maintenance" as a "repair" (and factor that into my repair budget), or consider it simply as a cost of buying the house (affecting cash-on-cash and cap rate statistics)?

Have you accounted for other costs like utilities, maintenance, vacancy, cap ex, and management?

You could also point out that your cost of funds with which to loan is far higher than government backed funds, so the interest rate caps are too low.

We put water,sewer,and trash into the lease to make sure it is paid and not under the tenants control.So we will have base rent plus these utilities listed in the rent for a total rent price.Fulton county is one of the few counties in Georgia where a water lien SURVIVES foreclosure.No way to get rid of it except through the local council person with legislation or negotiating a payoff of the lien.With our apartment units the benefit is we get the bill so we can moniter water usage.If the bill is really large you can use a water leak adjustment form with the Fulton county water authority.Depending on the age of your property pay special attention to leaky faucets and old toilets leaking at the wax seal,the return line,and or the tank into the bowl.If you have plumbing leaks anywhere it will drive the water bill up.If you have an outside water spigot get it capped off or removed.Tenants are notorious for using water outside and driving the bill up.You better get a hold of this lien issue now or it will get worse.

How much did you put down, what interest rate did you get, what CAP rate did you buy at.

In my area the Cap Rate range seems to range from 3% topping out at 8%.