Hired part time admin assistant and 1/4 time services of book keeping professional. 

• Should utilities, internet, or services like snow removal/lawn care be included, or not?

At about half of my properties I provide quarterly exterior pest control services.

Hi Jonathan,Jay’s Fencing (209-847-3992), Elite Iron Fencing (209-968-6685), and Fletcher Fencing (209-662-8298) are solid options to get bids from and compare.I also offer consulting services to help clients navigate projects like this—whether it’s evaluating bids, ensuring the scope of work is clear, or helping you avoid potential issues during the process.

After that is returned, I do a background check through Transunion or a similar service. 

Correct me if I'm wrong but VRBO is very clunky and not very host friendly.

In a situation where you were doing an arbitrage (renting it from the owner, then yourself re-renting it to someone else) your costs to renovate/fix it up while you're using it would be able to be capitalized and depreciated by you once your rental was in service (available for rent to others). 

If you are trying to come up with a way to finagle the occupancy requirements while using an amazing loan (that you earned based on your service) like a VA, I would say you are starting off on the wrong foot.

I host a free virtual one every Wednesday (that is not new years day) and would be happy to send invite if you like. 

@Augusta Owens first, thank you for your service!