I know I could find some myself, but if anybody has had some good experiences with budgets and timeframes let me know...ThanksPJ McInerney Pinnacle Realty LLC 1930 St Andrews Ct NE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402Licensed REALTOR® in the State of Iowa

But of most of the deals I've analyzed, (assuming I'm budgeting for safe 10% maintenance and "regular" rates of tenant vacancy - 5% or 1/20 months), there's no way to achieve those sorts of returns, even with a 80% LTV leveraged position.So am I missing something?

For rehab you'll need roughly 30% of the rehab budget in order to rehab enough to get the reimbursement draws. 

Any ideas on any preferences your have, or budget, etc?

HI Bradford,Most lenders can do the 203k FHA streamline or full K / standard program or the home style conventional loan program.The problem is most have not done a rehab loan program or have construction experience  or the process on the lending paperwork side.There is quite a bit of paper work such as:- scope of work + revised scope of work or adjustments- consultant review depending on the depth of your construction project and work being done- resume for contractor- certain lenders have requirements for contractor experience such as you cant GC (general contractor) your own project and such- reserves or margin of error in the project such as the 35k streamline 203k loan which only leaves about 28-30k of actual construction cost with the remaining 5-7k for reserves and contingency- only 203k standard FHA can finance your carrying costs (so you dont have to make a mortgage payment during your 6 months of construction)- Home style conventional rehab loan cannot have a project that is more than 50% of the after improved value (meaning your rehab cannot be 250k on a 450k valued project after you finish) youd have to lower your rehab to 225k or less in this example) This is not limited on 203k products- much moreAfter the construction details and process theres the typical financing aspects which include regular FHA or conventional qualification guidelines.The rule of thumb though is to qualify for way more than you need or to do a max purchasing power assessment to see how much borrowing power we have to ensure we have enough room to budget for the 1) purchase, 2) rehab / construction budget, 3) reserves and contingency budget to fit in loan approval criteria.Let me know if you have any questions on what to look out for.

What is a realistic rehab budget for these types of houses?

If I were in her shoes and her budget permitted it, I would use the Legal Zoom option to simplify any future goals to expand her investment portfolio.  

You can absolutely find properties that are well within your budget with great cash flow.

I doubt that's the math you calculate when you budget paying rent every month and I'd like to help you to not get caught behind on rent.

So here is the spiffy: In our original budget we wanted to fix the od bay window as replacing it would be super costly.