Costs covered in rental income

[Steven Mojsej]

Hi BP,

Looking for advice from different investors in what is being covered with the rental income you are acquiring from the renters. You need to get enough to cover the mortgage payment, property taxes, insurance as well as producing some cash flow is the ideal situation.

However with that being said, I know some other investors that have included utilities built into the property as well. (I.E water). Is there a general rule of thumb on this? I'm guessing it's different for every market and every properties cash flow situation. Alot of people say to try and keep that to a bear miminum but others say that if you have good tenants and cover one of these utilities it goes a long way towards building a better tenant relationship.

Looking for some advise.

Thanks in advance!