It was already rewired and had a special footprint/ layout and great location.

A nicely renovated 2 bedroom with a decent layout can get you $1800 pretty easy.

But with students (and their parents), it's so crucial to lay out your rules/policies bc once you acquiesce at the beginning, it makes for a loooong year

And you can tailor it to you, so 1) You certainly don't have to charge 100% while vacant (dependent on bldg. layout, thermostat access, etc.) and 2) You can tailor the Gas/Electric as you have brought up so maybe 50/50 all except 60 unit 1/40 unit 2 for electricity... etc. 

And they can lay out a plan and how it all works.

Example would be for a SFH fixer upper in grandma condition:   $10k for demo and permits and prep, $10k for wall removing and layout revising, $10k for basement framing, $10k for drywall, $20k for paint, $30k for flooring, $20k for kitchen, $20k for baths, $20k for any MEP upgrades, $10k for trim work, $10k interior finishes 

When looking for a place, look at the sizes of the bedrooms, the lay out and number of bathrooms. 

We loved it when we bought the house and what mattered to us most at the time was the layout of the kitchen, not the color of the cabinets.

He said its so much because its a delicate job but I have a hard time with that price. 

When we wholesale in Denver metro its usually 78-80% ARV, we would only go lower if it was a slightly riskier deal (no good comps, stigmatized area, layout that might not make sense, house will be listed in the winter).Having said that our flippers are still having success with those number because of how hot the Denver area is.