There is a great group of members on here to connect with.

It is common and customary acrossa almost all rentals except some A class office to pay your share of utilities.Now you can make whatever arangment you'd like and work it out however you want with your tenant but if you are going to "share costs" I'd suggest keeping the utilities in your name, and then "back billing" the tenants for that share of their usage, but again thats a lot of work for really no gain in my book.My recommendation would be to simply have the tenants pay all utilities. 

Just minutes away is not a good determination of rents.

The property is a duplex on a street entirely full of duplexes and even a triplex or two. 

The townhomes  usually sit on very small lots and a lot of value is found in the dirt in central Houston.

@Russell Brazil is Patterson Park a decent rental area?

Quote from @NA Ludkey: @Jaycee Greene  No he is not a dependent on our tax return any longer. 

This is extremely helpful.

This is the value of having someone who has local experience.The company you said, if they are some "remote" company, I guess they could provide the things that you need and save money, but I would hesitate to feel confident if they do not have regional experience and that you would be left vulnerable if issues arise with the design later on. 

This is something a lot of people need to read going into flipping..