The rent needs to cover the mortgage, vacancy, insurance, property taxes, repairs, maintenance, property management, capital expenditures, and any other expenses that are applicable (utilities, snow removal, landscaping).

It is the gross income minus major capital expenditures. i.e.

During a downturn (no tenant) or if you have a major Capital Expenditure (new roof etc) where will you get the money to pay for that?

@Alan Dunlap, that is after Vacancy, capital expenditures, maintenance, Property Management, and debt service.

But toddler logic and capital expenditures like real estate are a very dangerous combination! 

Hey Bruce, One way to add this into your valuation would be to take a reasonable quote and include it as a capEx expenditure at year 4 or 5 in the cycle.

Account Closed  That's correct -- the broker (who also owns the property management company) had full access to actual operating data but chose to omit these larger expenditures with the justification that they were non-recurring and therefore wouldn't be representative of future operating costs. 

It ranges from netting $5k/yr. or so to breaking even, depending on expenditures.  

Will I be able to rent a property out for enough money that I am able to pay the mortgage, taxes, insurance, property management, utilities, capital expenditures, repairs, etc and still make a profit every month?

As impoverished people leave the city and middle/upper class move into the city, the city's required expenditures decline and the city's tax revenue increases.