Renting spare rooms in the home we rent (landlord approved)

[L'Rainne Molina]

Total newb here and any advice is appreciated. :) 

We (my boyfriend and I) got approval from our landlord to sublet the remaining rooms in the house beginning in August. It's a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath. We have two spare rooms for rent, 1 full bathroom for the rooms to share + half bath downstairs for roommate/guest use. The house is 1900+ square feet. It's in a desirable location, gated community + HOA amenities, great school district, and within walking distance to parks, coffee shops, etc.

Total rent is $1845 (split by 4 [people] = $461.25) 

Additional bills at a flat rate: water, garbage, internet, and gardener, ($84 total if split by 4)
Additional bills at a variable rate: PGE, housekeeper (TBD)

-How should we charge the rent, as far as what bills to include in the base rent or charge separately? I've seen other local rooms for rent that include the PGE and charge and overall flat rate. Is that really effective? Our climate gets super hot (currently 104). Cooling a 2 story house doesn't come cheap. 
-If someone wanted to rent both of the rooms, would you cut them a deal?


We looked at the current rent rates that other people are charging per room and they are all over the place. It varies from $500-800. I'm also basing everything off getting both rooms rented. There is a huge difference between splitting the rent 4 ways vs. 3 ways). We are both trying to keep our expenses low. While we could afford only having one roommate, our monthly housing expenses would nearly double and we're trying to buy a house within the next year. 


Our landlord also told us to create our own lease agreement and run our own background check. Any tips or templates with this?