I am subletting a property that I am planning on purchasing the set up where instead of any type of security deposit I am re-having the property which is necessary before I rent it out.I will have about $20,000 in expenses all before I purchased the property.

@Jason Dubon I use a percentage of the rental income to prepare for expenses.

I am in San Diego and it is too expensive here to get started, so I am looking in the Midwest. 

I would hesitate to say 1-2 years to rotate out but closer to 5 years, and ideally I'd try to get the downpayment higher to at least 10%.I understand your areas though-- they're expensive.

The importance of lowering expenses and increasing efficiency to maximize property income.

Even though your market might prove expensive, I would exhaust all options before ruling it out.Truth is, you have a unique competitive advantage in your market.  

As well as UN-realized expenses.

Eric,Without going into too much detail on each line item, at first I use my back of the napkin method with a 40-50% expense ratio.

What I see a lot of people do is overthink it and then either stop in their tracks, or wait for years to get started due to the overwhelming data that they get on what they want to do.

I find myself over whelmed with a sistuation that I am currently facing.