The house is trashed and contractors I've had over there estimate 25-30k in repairs (new roof, new AC in and out) to make it a bare bones rent house, nothing fancy.

If that is the case the offer price goes lower say if a new roof is needed you might deduct 10,000 off the sales price.So from what I am seeing you are at about a 4 to 5 cap without CAPEX.

I even send letters in November reminding my tenants that the best gift they can give is the roof over their family's head.

When a new roof, new siding, new driveway, or new windows are needed, the association will pay for that.

There are many areas where renting works out to be a cheaper way to put a roof over your head than owning.

The roof is in new condition, windows are in place.

That's a ridiculous amount for the contractor to ask for, unless the work requires a lot of upfront costly materials (like roofing jobs);- Never finalize a bid until after you have all the information you need for the job.

Old roof?

A big part of the 50% rule is saving capitol back for those big ticket items like furnace replacement or, the most used example, a new roof.

The appraisal was very easy, as the intown market has been booming for about the past 12 months.Actually, one of our biggest problems after doing these two houses was that the neighborhood got very hot and prices went through the roof.