How to decided if you or the tenant is paying for utilities?

[Jonathan K.]

I'm trying to refine my deal analysis skill through trial and error and one problem I'm running into that is effecting my profit is when to decide if I'm going to be paying for water, power, and garbage? The real estate sites like Realtor.com, Zillow, and Redfin don't tell you this info so how do you guys decide who foots the bill for what? 

[Kenneth Garrett]

@Jonathan K.

In my SFH i have my tenants pay all utilities

On multifamily buildings either submeter as much as you can or you’ll need to absorb the utility fees.  Make sure the rent can cover these.  There are multiple ways to charge the different utilities; Hire a 3rd party and let them employ RUBS, meter it yourself, use a square footage calculation per unit or other system.