One of the things that I always put into my contracts is a clause that states that amendments to the contract can be made by following a predetermined process and getting all the signatories to sign the amendment.

We have actually (and seriously) discussed with them that they are all to meet each other on a Friday evening at a predetermined time so we know they are all still ok.

I actually work and live in a pretty rural/college area.However if I tell you, in order to qualify for my $6.00 Steak dinner you have to do the following-Be at a predetermined restaurant at 5:00PM on Tuesday-Prepay $6.00-Showup in a red shirt-Be over 60 inches tall-have a 620 Fico scoreThen when you show up on Tuesday tell you "Sorry but someone was more qualified and I am going to keep your $6.00, have a great day".

We trust him to provide good service, and we empower him to take action in an emergency.He is our trusted set of eyes on the ground if an issue arises, inspecting any problems reported by tenants and making recommendations for repair.He will complete any work required, including coordinating and overseeing skilled trades, at a predetermined rate.We pay the handyman a $200 per month retainer.He is paid this money whether or not he has to lift a finger.In exchange for this money, he is willing to be on-call for our tenants in an emergency and take appropriate action to mitigate the issues.In non-emergencies, as directed by me, he will inspect issues reported and make recommendations.If he has to complete any work or coordinate a skilled trade, we pay him $30 per hour for his time plus materials at cost.We also pay for any skilled trades (i.e.

I set up as much automation as I can to minimize time: automatic bill pay for re-occurring bills, grass cutter on schedule, tenants deposit rent into bank account, late reminders to tenants via text around the 5th of the month, eviction of non-payers on the 10th (or pre-determined date), and my jurisdiction allows via FAX.

This is assuming you don't have a predetermined time horizon to sell the house.  

If you click on the footnotes, you can learn the actual code, if you ever need it or want to read it.In case someone here is curious, the following is cut and pasted from the CA Dept of Consumer Affairs website:http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/li...Late fees and dishonored check fees A rental agreement cannot include a pre-determined late fee. the exception to this rule is when it would be difficult to figure out the actual cost to the landlord caused by the late rent payment.

I'd rather buy that house for "cash" and pay up the nose for financing with a pre-determined "exit" strategy ( or huge cash flow rental). 

If you are valuating SFR's focus on  other long-term plays like debt pay-down, equity, and tax benefits...Not discouraging your valuation..practice helps...but your vacancy loss is pre-determined as a component of GOI...it's not an operating expense...and capital expenditures are what they are...again, not an operating expense (and 15% may be excessive...).PM me or feed me a couple of your property addresses and financials and I'd be glad to help you sort these out. 

Can be 50/50, 60/40 or a predetermined amount such as $500 or more.The simple answer to your question about how does the investor make money.