Being able to estimate (or better yet actually determine) square footages, experience in knowing how much it really costs to remove drywall, put in a beam, replace cabinets, run plumbing and electrical; it all comes with walking with contractors/your subs to guess better and better.

@Stewart Wyne well a big question here is per square foot value an accurate measure of value in your market?

I live in Washington state in a house I'm buying and I also have a rental in California.

Here are some details on the property: New England building, 3,000 square feet, built in early 1900s 4-Units: two 3BR/1B, to 1BR/1BAProperty has had recent roof and heater replacement, but has had same tenants and little interior work done in 10 years; Class C property in Class B area Total market rent today of $3300 per month; $4,100 after $80,000 in renovationI assume 10% repair cost before renovations, 5% after renovations Here's my CapEx Calculation (with Cashflow analysis on second tab).

I could afford to buy something and the neighborhood reminded me of Washington DC's Shaw neighborhood circa late 1990s early 2000s.

I've heard 5%, and I've heard 20% with 5 pts (a local shark here in WA, hehe).

Its often times best to just take a circular saw, set it to the depth of the floor thickness and cut the floor including the subfloor into squares and then remove them.

To keep things very simple, I’m assuming the following: Structure: SFRAsking price: $111,111Desired COCR: 10%Gross Rent: $1,000/monthFinancing terms– preferred is 70% LTV over 15 yearsIn the example below (btw...I'm using a modified version of @Brandon Turner 's 4-Square concept), I plugged in getting the property at a 10% discount and the preferred terms and can only achieve $55/month in cash flow with 2.05% COCR.If I plug in terms of 80% LYV over 30 years I can get a lot closer.If I plug in my preferred terms, and calculate my best offer, I can only pay $75,408 which is 67% of the asking price.

Owner asking $950k. 3,800 gross square footage.- told the broker to set up a walk through and I asked my long time general contractor to meet me there to identify any deal breakers.

If she has a debit card, then she can pay you directly with square cash.