There are fixed costs you won't be able to get away from utilities, insurance, etc and are typically stable year to year or with some measured growth.

While the marketing side would essentially give you another full-time job, it could yield results and bring more options forward.Your agent can help you source most prospective deals while utilize your own marketing efforts to find potential deals. 

Look historically what utilities has been costing and charge a flat rate. 

Pros to my current position: Secure, w2, pay is above average, benefits are stellar, schedule is somewhat flexible (can leave if I need to without penalty; vacation when I want - utilizing banked time on both), 3 miles from home, and hopefully a pension in 17 years. 

The tenants pay for all their own utilities.

I have purchased and utilized the deal Automator and can give you at least my side of what I experienced.

With your skills and background I would guess you would be best utilized with a larger organization that has the deal volume to afford to pay you full time.

Utilizing our collaborative financing model allowed for efficient funding, covering both the purchase price and any necessary costs associated with the resale.

Definitely check with your CPA, but I am pretty sure you cannot write off the "lost" income but you still get to write off the mortgage interest as well as utilities etc while there.

A little background to start out because I'm feeling a little scatterbrained with the directions to take next: I'm 23 and currently own 2 duplexes with gross income just shy of $4k per month, net after mortgages, taxes, utilities, repairs, etc. is about $2,125 give or take depending on the month.