Quick Question for Experienced Landlords

[David Fals]

First-time rental property investor. When running cash flow, how conservative are you with reserves?

I’ve been testing:

Lean (~16%): 5% vacancy, 6% maintenance, 5% CapEx

Balanced (~21%): 5% vacancy, 8% maintenance, 8% CapEx

Conservative (~30%): 10% vacancy, 10% maintenance, 10% CapEx

Huge swing in cash flow depending on which I use.

What percentages do YOU actually use in practice, and has experience ever made you wish you’d budgeted differently?