I've been wanting to diversify into residential real estate, but find that I do not have any extra time to manage properties.

(must live in it first and hope to only live for a year before moving to a home for my partner and myself)Anyway I am trying to sort out an excel spreadsheet that has - a list of properties- what they are listed for- what I would like to get them for- rent- rate costs and extra expenses- loan repayments- monthly and yearly income- and ROII am just having a bit of trouble understanding how I work ROI out.My first example is 50k of my own money with a yearly return of $1872Do I do 1872/50000?

There are some inflations in material costs and difficulty getting products, but, that doesn’t mean labor costs should triple just because someone thinks they can charge you whatever they want.  

The neighborhood is also on my "up and coming" list, so it's not as shiny as some other neighborhoods yet.As for loans, FHA and VA have extra hoops to jump through for underwriting and its a pain. 

Are you paying extra points for a lower rate?

I am a recent college grad and now a new realtor (full time) and also am an actor, so I do not have a W2 - from what I have heard not having a full time job for 2 years results in difficulty finding any loan.

I’m planning on taking the money to fund my next deal,  I’m in Cleveland though, and the home prices are so low that a couple grand means a lot more than in some other markets like the west coast, where $2,000 fee to pull out an extra 30k makes more sense

I don't know what their excuses were, but they could be experiencing valid difficulty in their business.

We made 2 extra bedrooms out of an enclosed porch/ garage and added a bathroom.

@Eva Fox When you do find a property you want to exchange into, remember to leverage cost segregation to accelerate the depreciation to get extra cash-flow up front.