But for the last 3-4 years local residents have decided it was cheaper to just take the groceries. 

Now you have to decide if you want the income or if you want to scale.

I'm currently pre-approved but my lender gave me a "mid-level rate" which I believe isn't my actual rate since I haven't chosen a property but me not being as educated on the behalf and thinking it was my actual rate I decided to rate shop a bit.

An opportunity came my way, I asked a lot of questions to evaluate my risk/reward and decided it made sense to me. 

Quote from @Jonathan Chan: Hi All,I first joined biggerpockets back in 2020 when I decided to get into real estate.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

I know some things are straightforward, like utilities that are metered, but for other costs especially labor and overhead (including those that work in the office), how do you decide what gets charged to which properties?

So, Jason, what did you decide to do, and what was the result.

Or can you still run everything through your personal return (just want to make sure that I can deduct things such as HOA fees which I can do if it is a rental).2) If I do decide to run everything thru my personal tax return (save on LLC fees), should I at the least set up a separate bank account to track costs separately?

Another student rental that has a mortage of 900k me and my wife live here on a private floor. thrid property is also another rental ( duplex w a mortage of 390k ) was fully rented but tenant upstairs has moved out a year ago so I decided to renovated to do short term rental added in 2 ensuite rooms.