Utilities are generally public and you can call them to get averages, taxes are public as well and can be pulled either from a assessor website or at their office, insurance companies can give you cash value and replacement value quotes by giving them an address, general rule for running calculations for vacancy is 5-10% of gross income, I have seen maintenance expenses all over the map (anywhere from $300-750 or a % of the rent - those vary depending on the number of doors in the deal as well as how much deferred maintenance has to be dealt with or how much rehab you are going to do to negate the deferred maintenance), contracted services, call a few landscapers and get quotes and use those for your analysis. 

You could use this number in a Rule of 72 calculation to figure out the amount of time it would take to double your money, for example.There are caveats to keep in mind with the calculator, though. 

As a rule I generally assume expenses to be 50% of the gross income for my first look evaluation no matter what expenses the seller reports (unless its more than 50%, then I will use their number.)From there you can get into more detail on what type of capital expenditure budget the property might need depending on what physical condition and what strategy might be best.As far as due diligence once the property is under contract, or maybe before in some situations you will need a much more exhaustive list.

Every jurisdiction has different rules.

Just a bunch of BS as you know.. they are there to do what we all do and that is snag a good deal.. nothing more nothing less.now in our states on the west coast this is illegal.. and or I should say very strict rules to follow and violation of these is serious.. ergo we no longer do it.. as its not profitable.. just have to let them cycle through the system.

@Andrew Schlessinger the 2% rule hasn't been an option in Austin for years.  

i would move on. you are there to meet your goal. if your realtor is not helping you then he is in the way of your goal. get rid of him and find someone that will play by your rule. bottom line. it's just business.good luck

I got an email with the following message from Zillow "Contact support for advertising rentals in communities of 50 units or more", I am still waiting on a response from them.I then tried to list it on apartments.com and faced an error saying that subleases were not allowed and to call customer support if this was an error, so I did.

Very nice people, very supportive, always with an educational component. https://www.meetup.com/Masterminds-of-Cen-Tex-Real...Start by reaching out to a couple of local RE agents and let them know what you want, set up alerts for your criteria on Trulia, both for homes for rent and for sale.

@Tiffanie Harris you can typically bring the claim as a representative of the Trust but you need to contact your local district court and see if they have any special rules.