Rent by room or whole house? Any experience /advice?

[Candy H.]

Hi all. My only experience as a landlord, to date, is renting out an efficiency apt.(semi-connected to my home) 500.00/mth utilities paid. All has gone well this year. A nice, quiet , elderly lady lives there and always pays on time. Mth to mth lease. Easy, easy so far. Maybe luck.

New situation:

I bought the home next door, and moved in to rehab. Now putting my home up as a rental by October(when remodel is complete). 

The home is a few blocks from a University, in a sought out area(far from luxury, just great location).  I figured by October, the college students have probably secured housing and just planned on renting to a family/individual/couple.

I was having a conversation with a friend, who is a prof. at the University. He mentioned he has a foreign grad student living with him who is seeking a 'room" for rent.  The home is 3BR 2 Bath. I would need to rent out 1 or 2 more rooms to others, and the grad student prefers not to live alone. So I am considering this.

As this will be my first real experience with renting out a home, I am asking for advice,  experiences, things to keep in mind, pros/cons, et all and anything of renting out room vs home.

I pay around 750.00/mth for Mtg, Ins,Taxs. Around 350.00/mth in basic utilities of (Electric,water,gas)when I lived there. But I am conservative. 

Browsing local homes in my area I could rent out home for around 1100.00/mth, utilities paid by tenant.

Would I stand to realize more cash flow renting by room? EX: 500-600/mth all bills paid (some bills paid?) x 3 rooms 15 to1800/mth - utilities.

 Things I know to be concerned about:

-Electric bill being crazy high(less cash income)

-Tenants not getting along/moving in out, leaving empty rooms(less cash income)

What's more scary is that I don't know what other concerns I should have.

Advice?