They don't qualify this with the number of people in the household.Personally, I generally use the rule of thumb of 25 percent of gross income.While it has been a practice for years by many to use 30-35 percent, I prefer the lower percentage simply because it does not stretch the budget as much.

I also build in payment clauses that certain work is to be done before a certain percentage is paid. 

I wonder what percentage of people just take a gamble and play Russian roulette with the DOS clause.

Eventually, they're going to keep lowering the price and raising the discount percentage until its an absolute steal of a deal.And the fact that most agents and homeowners don't understand how HUD works, they aren't going to have any clue that they could put in an offer at 60% of the list price and get it accepted.If the house is still sitting in 90 days, then you might very well be able to do just that.Although I will say that I have contacted an Asset Manager before to complain.

Did you just divide it by the number of units, the percentage of square feet, or something else?

But, without knowing more about your investing style (short-term, long-term, etc), your investing goals (income growth, passive cash-flow, etc), the types of deals you're doing (rentals, wholesale, rehab, etc) and your ability to keep your money working, it's difficult to recommend a set of metrics that will allow you to evaluate your success.For example, cash-on-cash is a nice, simple metric that will allow you to compare a certain type of investment (for example, a passively managed rental unit where a substantial percentage of the purchase is your own personal funds and where all cash that is thrown off by the investment is paid out and not reinvested) to other similar investments.

I have my first deal in the works in Livingston, TX, I would like to know what is the percentage I would be taking home?

That would then be allocated based on the profit or loss percentages.

Is it some percentage of the future price (e.g. 1% of future price, so $150K * 1% = 1500/mth)?

If you were Tenants in Common with defined ownership percentages, then your obligations would be limited to your stake.