.- Before adding late fees to your agreement, consult with an attorney (familiar with CA landlord-tenant law, in your case) to determine both the amount and the documentation you should maintain.

Again, real world numbers including contingencies for vacancies, big repairs, etc. 3) maintain the liquidity that I need for unexpected things and additional acquisitions.

It would be ridiculous to say that this property takes $1,300 to maintain per month to operate using a 50% rule.

THEN you may be forced to get the roof repaired to maintain coverage.

I've heard of Ally but not Synchrony, you'd think the online banks could offer better returns, not needing to maintain the brick and mortar footprint of traditional banks.

That increases costs to maintain properties.

I'm officially sick of them now--I received a statement from them today saying that starting Jan 1st I will be charged $25 per month to maintain my account with them, unless I maintain an average X balance in the account.

In the meantime, maintaining most holdings in non-financial assets seems prudent.

I maintain a good reserve for vacancies, evictions and repairs.

Chasing every last cent in tax reduction is sub-optimal in many cases too because the money you pay to your accountant will exceed the money you would have had to pay to the government.