I agree with @Chris Sellers that your next step is to begin narrowing down your market choices.My best advice:Be ruthless with the numbers - Be crystal clear on your financial objectives and how you'll measure success.

(they measured the footprint of the buildings, determined roof square feet and then multiplied x the "going rate" to arrive at a price. 

Detailed electrical compliance along with the long overdue & more stringent fire safety requirements such as fire sprinklers & 24/7 first responder alarm panel systems etc.

What is the 1% rule - can someone direct me to where I can learn about that and other rule of thumb measurements I should be familiar with?

You aren't gonna be doing anything measurably better or worse by picking Cleveland over Indy & vice versa.

I'm setting up a single-family residence for multiple living units. I'd prefer not to install more breaker boxes and meters if I don't have to. I know it's possible to monitor usage for specific circuits using a few ...

@Hannah Rubin @Dean Iodice If you are measuring our market's "deals" against the ones you hear about on the podcasts, where they talk about getting the "2% Rule" to work, then you're correct.

As far as what coverages, I would start with looking up what the State requirements are to license the home.the State will usually have pretty stringent guidelines as to which coverages you have to have and what limits of insurance you need to carry.This makes it pretty easy to compare insurance quotes as the insurance agents and carriers all need to quote  the same minimums.

We have done that now 3 times and they now have super strict zoning that prohit any new rental not to mention the fact that they cant be within 500 feet of another property that is a vacation rental- measured by the distance from the furthest point of any property line.

You should be able to easily separate the plumbing at some point in th system to isolate units and install flow meters to measure individual usage.