In that case be ready to have a 20-25% down payment and 2 months of reserves as well as 6 months of mortgage payments in the bank ( they will verify ) after all that is said and done with make sure the numbers make sense. are you investing for cash flow?

Instead the bank will slowly lower the asking price or put it on auction sites with a slowly decreasing reserve price.  

Since you only put 5 percent down you should have enough cash available for repairs and reserves and unforeseen expenses that always come up. 

It’s usually something they take on as a necessary evil given its nature of importance for out-of-state investors.”

I would be reaching out asking if there is an assessment planned in the near future, and the current status of the HOA making sure they actually have reserves for big things.

If this was a standard rental process then yes, I'd recommend going through the process of applications/screening steps, a background check, and then require the deposit; since it sounds like the house is being rented to transient workers though, the very nature of the work situation calls for a bit more flexibility on the renting end.

This allowed me to get my money out sooner but I also held back some of the proceeds to use as reserves to absorb the vacancy costs.

My experience of human nature is that if he already has the money, he's less likely to be concerned about his performance and if we're happy with him or not, etc.Another option is to wait until the summer months where the service calls are 3x/month, and then let the vendor opt to take the $550 average per month - that way we have the leverage if he decides to quit early or if we're not happy with the work - if anything, we would owe him money instead of him owing us service.So one factor is who has the leverage.The other factor is if there's a benefit to having the monthly costs consistent every month - does this matter to you as an owner / property manager?

Specifically if a given property has updated systems and is held for a shorter period, the Cap Ex budgeted would be lower than a long-term hold with dated plumbing, electrical and requiring a new roof.Better to over estimate and have plenty of reserves just in case instead of the alternative.

This by no means should be a knock at Mom & Pop types of business, as we all know they are the business back bone in most communities.I did not see any expenses for the residential unit as well as the additional expenses for the commercial unit such as vacancy %, management %, repair reserves % and future capital expenses % (Cap EX).