I am not counting roofs, or other major repairs as costs, but should I?

For us, a major red flag is when a customer wants to dictate means and methods to us.

A lot of what I here and see here on bigger pockets and the people who scale and build major wealth have a deep understanding of how debt works and helps them leverage their money.

I'm currently in due diligence for a $1.5mm property and have a capital partner putting up the majority of the equity. 

It was surprisingly easy.My major challenge is that I have been managing major rehabs from half-way across the world.

I might be bias :), but I think Portland metro area is still a good place to invest on the west coast, much cheaper relative to other major west coast cities like SF, LA and Seattle. especially for appreciation, but harder if you are going for cash flow.

There are a few other major items but if I listed those someone might steal my idea, and I wouldn't want that.  

But after hearing multiple seasoned investors recommend not buying a rental unless you can afford to own it outright, or have major reserves to cover long vacancies and unexpected repairs, we decided to start with wholesaling instead.  

The majority of SFH investors are smaller mom and pop operations.

Then look at the cost of some of the major repairs that may need to be performed. 55% is a good Estimate but you'll want to look at all the real data before making a hard comparison.