The day jobs definitely help with that buffer!

Tampa Bay is surrounded by barrier islands and peninsulas that act as natural buffers against storm surge.

It's always important to over estimate expenses (to have a buffer for vacancy) to be on the safe side. 

I use a 30-year mortgage (as a buffer vs 15 year).  

And there is zero equity buffer to protect your loan either, meaning the loan to value (LTV) is 100% which is super risky.I'm sure there are some that are confident in going this route because they know and trust the borrowers they gator lend to but people fail people they know and trust all the time -think divorce rates are low?

Would it be better to empty out the 2 bedroom and get it rehabbed asap, or collect some rent first as a buffer and give it a little bit of time?

My preference is to get an average for the utilities, add a 10% buffer for tenants that use excess, and then split it by the number of units.Will the single person complain about being billed the same as a family of four?

Give yourself at least enough buffer to avoid worries about bouncing checks 1.

Since you don't have a mortgage, you will have more of a buffer there against vacancy and higher dollar repairs like a new roof.

Those resident managers are your buffer between tenants/issues and yourself.