Over the 15 years, that same apt is now renting for $4,500 per month.If you do the math, He started to LOSE money if you considered his NET disposable Cash.

At that point it becomes scale to make those types of properties work you need the ability to buy a lot of them to get any real appreciable income that is disposable.. 

I forgot to add: I take out garbage disposals and ice makers in all rentals.

For example if you're in your 20s and have high income you could maybe take more risks than if you're in your 30s/40s with kids at home with a less disposable income. 

Because you can do both , you should take the tools and advantages at your disposal and use them. 

Sometimes there are small things that you can do like add dishwashers, garbage disposals, fresh paint, new light fixtures, or a more stylish flooring to increase rents.

To go even further, your capex and repair assumptions are going to be based on a few things.1) Age of the building - the older the building, generally the higher the repair expenses2) What repairs are you doing to the building - if you are renovating the entire building from top to bottom, you may want to be less conservative on the repair assumptions as everything will be brand new3) How conservative are you as an investor - some people will model properties out with zero room for error and they may assume a lower repair cost that you will4) What is your end game - if you are going to hold the property long term, I would assume higher repair costs as compared to a fix and flip that you will dispose of in a few months.Let me know if you have questions.

My assumption is based on you sending an already signed APS to show seriousness and a way to dispose immediately. 

As someone mentioned most tentants pay via Venmo like clockwork and occasionally you have to walk downstairs and fix a garbage disposal...You don’t need to search for some off market thing but you do need to be willing to go for the house that needs a bit of work.

Usually a house rehab should start with demolition and that only costs the contractor time and a few bucks to dispose of the waste.