I wouldn't put much weight on using Trulia or Zillow. 

I personally feel that consumer debt is like swimming with ankle weights on. 

Frankly if you do have to evict you are probably going to be under estimating your costs but this is a risk weighted calculation adjusted for probability.

This is true of any organization affiliated with JP Morgan Chase and TD Bank for sure.Also, remember bigger institutions license the FICO algorithm and are able to put in their own weights to get your credit score.

You'll also be personally guaranteeing mortgages made with institutional lenders and it's your personal credit that carries the weight.

There are a few reasons I think Chapel Hill is a tough town to invest in: 1) Elite public schools make it compelling for homebuyers 2) Many high-paid workers in healthcare, tech, and education have pushed up home prices 3) A recently (~4 years ago) lifted moratorium on building apartments has allowed a huge acceleration in building, so MFH supply is skyrocketing now, but not SFH.

Landlords are entitled to accord credit scoring whatever weighting they choose evaluating an applicant. 

Your track record is going to carry a lot of weight when you start talking about financing, and only crazy lenders are going to give you major commercial loans or bundle properties without any proof of success on your part. 

First of all, major retailors charge thousands for furniture and electronics they have manufactured over seas for pennies and I did emphasize on the "over priced" crappy 10k necklace zales sold me for over 1.5k that probably amounted to 40$ in gold weight. 

With smaller multi's less weight is given to the income approach but it often still does play a role.Appraisals can really be a crap shoot.