One way or another, however, the investors must work to pay down loans, increase rents and decrease expenses wherever possible.

What happens if the stock/mutual funds decrease in value?

So your total deductions are:interest: $500depreciation: $242property taxes: $150HOA: $30insurance: $25total:  $947With $1200 in rent that leaves $253 in taxable income.Do keep in mind a couple of things.One is that as you take depreciation (or are allowed to take it if for some reason you don't) the basis in your property decrease by that amount.  

My property manager argues that I should pay for water because:    -  If water bills are unpaid, the City of Grand Rapids can put a lien on your home even if the bill is in your tenant's name    -  The cost of water paid by the landlord is offset by higher base rentsMy thought process is that the cost should be passed to the tenants because:    -  With the tenant paying the bill, they will be most usage conscious and overall cost will decrease    -  I am skeptical that having the landlord pay for water results in a dollar for dollar increase in base rents    -  I have always had the philosophy that as many utilities should be passed to the tenant as possibleMy plan is to push my property manager to change leases moving forward so that tenants pay for water, but I wanted to get the BiggerPockets community's thoughts in case I am missing something here?  

So I need to either ask the seller to decrease the selling price or bite the bullet and pay 20% of 36,000 and the difference of $47,000 and 36,000 plus closing costs.Below is the Rental Cash Flow AnalysisRent = $900Property Management = -$90RE Taxes/Trash = -$100Water = -$50(I am inheriting tenant and lease says landlord pays)Repair Reserve = -$45Cap Ex Reserve = -$90Vacancy Reserve = -$45Interest = -$125Insurance = -$40Principal = -$150Monthly Cash Income $165More details on the property is that it is built in the early 1900's and is 900 SQ.Question for you guys is what do you guys do when the appraisal goes below the contract price?

Also you will get more cash flow the further our from the city you go, then as you approach the city the rent/price ratio will decrease, but your potential for appreciation will increase.

Cash flow, housing expenses covered, or housing expenses decreased? 

If rents decrease, I could be in a negative cashflow situation.. not ideal!

The reno will include the below:- New floors & Moldings- 2 full bathrooms (increase the size of one shower and decrease the size of the closet that is on the other side of it)- new staircase- new A/C (currently there are only window units, I'm looking to have a split system)- Install washer/dryerNow, my question relates to permits.

This increases expenses to about 46% and decreases NOI to $42500.