Get your insurance in business name, utilities can be put in business name.

Additionally, do you all generally use a smaller income criteria if the rent is inclusive of utilities? 

That's three months of mortgage and utilities, the cost of flooring, and the cost of painting.

Many rural water companies are near capacity.

So by utilizing leverage you earned $200 more.  

. $1300/month, tenant pays all utilities. 4 bedroom one is vacant.

However, I’m unsure about the utility of having two paid-off rentals 25 years from now.

Long story short, you spend a month cleaning and renovating, then you find a new tenant after just 15 days.In total, you lost three months of rent income ($3,000) plus paying utilities ($500).

In many places there are some utilities provided by the municipality.

We've utilized the VA loan for our current home, and this strategy has worked well so far.