The reality is the opposite - if it's not in writing then the PMC doesn't have to provide the service or can charge extra for it!

I did another one were I paid 240k for the property and a developer swallowed us up in 18 months and we sold for 970k.. without doing much to the project.As Cody mentions this is not for everyone and I would say very few could do this in reality. 

I am all for finding a motivated seller and getting a good purchase.The reality is most sellers have below market financing and little incentive to accept a noticeably below market offer.Unfortunately, in most markets paying market price with market financing bleeds cash as a traditional LTR. 2 recent studies show that it is cheaper to rent than own in virtually every large city in the UD. 

You will find very few properties in today’s market that provide upfront cash flow day one “off the shelf”, and they will be in less ideal locations and probably won’t actually provide any cashflow in reality even if they do in your spreadsheet.

It says my STR grosses 200k a year … in reality we’ll land between 40–45k.”

Adjust the numbers so they reflect reality based on what you're doing now.That gives you a basis of what kind of building you are looking for.

Unfortunately, this is the reality today.  

So what we did was we’d direct Lo Ball Ho to a property that was over priced where we wanted to “shock” the seller into (hopefully) getting a grip on reality.

Reality check:With $20K out of pocket, cosmetic-only rehab, and full cash-out after refi — you’re threading a very fine needle.

Cash cows on paper are often turds in reality due to unexpected issues and the reality of operating costs.