It’s their full time livelihood to make transactions happen.  

Like any tool, you have to know how to use it correctly or you could get, "injured".We use it to quickly sift through multiple options - and that's about it.BP has a Rental Calculator that includeds everything you are asking about: mortgage P&I, property taqxes, home insurance and percentage for maintenance & vacancy.It also includes Cap-Ex percentage, but in our experience it's a waste of time to worry about this.

@Michael Baum how many Short-term rentals do you manage this way where you are on call all the time?

•Every time you fill a rental, you open the door to a conversation about full management services.

He gives an example of 123 Main street (total profit/total invested capital)/time in years.

Amateur investor/full time agent here. 

If the water bill is $100 a month, increase the price by 20% (or whatever you decide is fair) to compensate you for the time required to split and bill and to cover additional use when tenants squander the utility.

We've provided this proof MANY times and had cases dismissed against our clients.Your PMC could have handled this better, but since you took over the process, you probably have no case against them.

This is a question that has come up a million times and will continue coming up forever in Chicago unless eventually things change one way or another.

I come across SFR in other states from time to time direct to seller.