BiggerPockets

Got this in my email:
I've got a great little deal on anyone looking for a cute little, ocean view, beach condo at Carolina Beach in Salty Hammocks. $60,000 UNDER tax value. Take it over with only $8000 down and payments of only $1400 per month. Purchase price is $165,000. These payments INCLUDE taxes, insurance and HOA dues. Fully furnished 1 bed 1 bath. Great to keep for yourself, or rent out as an investment.

How does one start to analyze this deal? He will send me the address this pm. Thanks.

I was looking at purchasing as a rental unit.

Rent / 2 - desired cash flow = maximum payment.
Compute maximum price from maximum payment (PV function in Excel.)

The "rent/2" assumes that 50% of the rent will go to all expenses, including vacancies.

There's no easy way to get vacancy rates. Sometimes local government housing agencies or apartment associations publish some numbers. Sometimes, only to their members, sometimes publicly. Whether these apply to your property or not is a different question.

In general, its hard to come up with any real details about most expenes. Taxes and insurance being the exception. There are several sticky threads in the Landlording forum on expenses.

If this is a vacation rental, all bets are off. I have no real idea how to evaluate these. Vacancies will be much higher. Expenses will be much higher because management costs are much higher.