CapEx/Maintenance and Repairs Determination

[Gavin Delmas]

I am looking for some help on how to determine what my CapEx expenses and Maintenance and Repairs cost will be on potential multifamily properties......? The market where I live is fairly tight, meaning that not a lot of places come on the market and when something does come available that looks intriguing it is put into escrow quick. When I use the generic calculations like 10% for CapEx and 10% for Maintenance and Repairs I'm finding that I'm not even in the ballpark of getting to play. I have a feeling my percentages are too high. Can anyone help me with how to more accurately determine what those expenses will be? Are there spreadsheets available for CapEx that break down life expectancy of capital items where you can plug in the years of useful life along with the cost of replacement to more accurately determine what the percentage should be? As far as Maintenance and Repairs go I'm at a loss with how to determine that as well.....? I know it varies from property to property and the owners are never that forthcoming with it, so how can I determine what that cost should be? This is the one thing that makes me the most nervous given the fact that if this area gets screwed up in the analysis then all of the sudden it has turned into a bad investment. Any help is greatly appreciated!