I believe it is completely reasonable to have a clause in your lease that places a cap on utilities with any overage (proven by a bill) being the responsibility of the resident.Our clause states that any electrical bill (we don't have gas, and water has never been a problem) that is over double the same month's bill from last year will have the overage assigned as a fee.It is important to keep your bookkeeping straight if you do assess a fee.

Tell him you'll give him a call :) This is one of the reasons why we tell tenants they need to vacate the property for any major repairs.  

My managment company has made more than a reasonable amount of attempts to get the HOA to have this repaired. 

(The same reason many people (maybe mostly men?)

It's open for interpretation, but if it went in front of a judge, they would look at the reasonableness of the situation. 

For the moment though, I am just trying to gain a more robust understanding of all things real estate that I could reasonably see in my future.  

Securing funding has been challenging, particularly because my business documents reflect low revenue from only one duplex, and I am currently between jobs.I have identified a reasonably priced piece of land and have saved a small portion of the funds from my duplex sale to invest in this venture.

Is there a particular reason?   

Part of the reason coastal values haven't quite scaled to heights of neighboring states is the remoteness and lack of winter sports and high end amenities and entertainment, but that doesn't mean trophy estates, ranches and homes don't exist.

The fix-up and increased value will not matter to the IRS as long as you sell within a reasonable time frame of the house passing into the estate.