Increase in utilities on 4 plex

[Frankie Lesowske]

When doing rental property calculators and writing a budget for monthly expenses there is the 50% rule that says expenses should be half of the monthly income, but is that true in all cases? Utilities can vary widely between different tenants especially if they aren't separately metered. What would be some rules of thumb or ways that other land lords deal with utility costs on residential multi family properties? This is a very important question to me due to the fact that income/expenses= the cash flow that can make or break a deal. Also this is just talking utilities. For maintenance/repairs I always use 5% vacancy, 8% repairs, 8% cap ex, and manage myself since its a house hack. I would love to hear about some ways that other landlords control their variable costs such as utilities and other expenses.