I'm sure the GC would like to make at least 10 to 20% of the project costs which would tack on an extra $10k to $15k.With all of those assumptions, you can see why I don't think $70k is an unreasonable estimate for the project.As JScott recommends in his book, when estimating costs for projects you need to put together a detailed list of every repair and then price out each repair. 

@Greg Murphy, can you post the details?

A typical scenario may go like this: I come across one for sale and the owner states the income and something like "good cash flow" in the details.

I'd love to dive into some detail if you don't mind specifically around your underwriting process.

So doing market research on rents independent of seller details, and then I assume, add a clause in the offer about current tenant rate that survives the transaction.Do you have any practical methodology for analyzing operating expenses if the owner doesn’t disclose?

Hello BP,I'm writing to post an update to this post, and share the details of our first deal.  

To keep the details simple, I acquired 7 acres of land (for an insanely cheap price) with only one structure (a house with tenants who are permanently vacating the property in a few weeks).

We still have these - contact @Pat Heidingsfelder for more details. 

Here are additional details on the properties:Both houses are 3/2s with 2 car garage and fenced-in yard.

PM me if you'd like to discuss in more detail, I always enjoy kicking around a spreadsheet on interesting questions like this.Tyler Mullen, CFE