I tell people NEVER to pay advance fees with the exception of an appraisal.

With that being said I'd rather not do the latter two and find a lender that will be ok with me paying fees and interest out of pocket.

@Doug Rich, @Justin Mespelt, what I forgot to mention was that we were also offering to pay any appraiser an additional $1,000 on top of their normal fee in order to get our appraisal done.

Our last project is on the first page of Google for "houses for rent" in the particular city, generating ~10k leads per month, with a strong conversion rate where the lead fills out a lengthy application and pays an application fee. 

Building was built in the 1960s I believe and has a ground lease (causing the HOA fees to be very high).  

How is appreciation/depreciation/capex/etc. factored in there. 

I am currently looking at the Columbus market and am very interested in Dayton as well, although location is really not a factor for me - I will go where the deals take me.If you have any tips, tricks or guidance that could help someone learning as they go, I would greatly appreciate it!

Does anyone have a general rule for factoring in expenses for a 10+ unit building?

But if you can find one partially renovated or factor in those costs you'll be fine.

RailRoad which runs the childrens train the "Polar Express" through the end of the year and keeps town very busy with some 70k plus visitors.I would echo most of what Amy had to say about the biggest factors to consider for a mountain rental would be  accesability, view, hot tub, fire pits and lastly we have seen a shift from people wanting to be remote to being closer to town.