Before I was an agent, and we were building our own portfolio, we just operated off of the seller's rent rolls and leases.

You should run numbers on both a mortgaged property and a property paid with cash for COCR purposes.As for rule of thumb, many investors would like to leverage their ability to obtain mortgages and start with a lot of units, versus dumping all working capital into one unit and not being able to make further moves until its regained (which could take years).It sounds like you don't have a single property -- I'd recommend running numbers and taking the plunge on a mortgaged property, getting some experience and operational protocols in place, and then expand from there.

The deal was adjacent to a current 4-plex that I own -- makes things easier for operations and better for lowering expenses (Trash - 1 dumpster instead of two), cap. improvements, etc.

The reason they do not allow 100% of the rental income is because they assume 25% will get eaten up with maintenance, repairs, management, etc (they are effectively accounting for your properties operating expenses) With that said, they place a cap on the qualifying rental income at your PITIA (principal, interest, taxes, insurance, association fees).

More importantly, egress window with certain operable area requirements and a sill height of no more than 44" from finished floor.In my specific village, add to the above minimum of 150 sq ft.Finally, as others mentioned, legally having a bedroom and functionally having a bedroom can be vastly different.  

Hotels closed, operated at limited capacity or became undesirable due to people wanting to avoid close contact.

The first two should be used to evaluate the market you're considering, while the latter should be used on a property by property basis (including them in your operational costs).

I operate by being an open book.

When you are finding your monthly net cash flow, are property management, maintenance, utilities, capex, etc percentages of gross rent, or percentages of your gross cash flow (net rent - PITI)? I usually say 8% for pm...

@Sarp Ka I believe the best way to do this would be to stay off title and have a separate operating agreement with this partner, though I am not a lender and this is not lending advice.