Good point Fearful. Hiring a property manager usually runs 10% of rents–the 8% guy just wants to get a listing when you tire of the losses. 10%+ is more common, and that excludes maintenance and repairs, although they will call and arrange contractors to do the work for you with little regard for cost.
I believe that lenders automatically assume 30% of rents for vacancies, repairs, maintenance, management, etc. That’s before PITI.
Using honest and realistic accounting, we are soooo far away from buying even break-even properties, much less cash flow ones.
