Are you paying any utilities as the owner, aside from water and user fee?

I am a fan of utilizing equity in existing real estate owned to build the rental portfolio though at the beginning, rather than just relying on money saved alone.  

If you sit empty for one month, you lose $1250 for PITI, plus utilities and any other expenses.

I'd love to utilize their expertise when assessing a property since they are local but I'm not sure what the general expectation is when I don't have a tangible property and I have not entered into contract to work with them yet.Some questions I have are: local regulations/permitting timeline, property's potential from their perspective, landscaping/amenities cost estimate (they also help facilitate this).

(prorating utilities by tenant head count for instance). 

I have had nothing but problems utilizing their system. 

Vacancy: 3 weeks every 2 years + utilities Make ready expenses: from $1000 to $5000 depending on house needs  

Real estate investments (STRs, MTRs, live in flips) have produced my best returns by a good margin.

They can take care of a lot of the monotonous tasks, and even do things like send leases, screen tenants, add rent charges, pay utility bills, the list goes on. 

I decided to get liscenced as a home inspector and utilize my knowledge in building science so I can add value to others but also so that I could immerse myself in the real estate industry and show investors that I am taking this seriously.