In Chicago you request a CHA Burden sheet and that gross number minus utility allowance will be what you get in addition to making sure bedroom size is adequate.  

@Kyle Trotman If you purchased with a hard money loan conventional lenders will require extensive seasoning to utilize the new appraised value for cash out. 

Utility deposits?

Specifically, I’d love to hear about best practices for managing shared spaces, screening tenants, and setting up house rules.Additionally, I plan to split the utilities among the tenants—any advice on how to handle this efficiently would be greatly appreciated!

Out of that voucher amount, they will have a utility and appliance work sheet that provides a cost for each utility or appliance not provided by a landlord for each bedroom size.

Big Banks like Wells Fargo, BOA, Citi, US Bank, and Chase utilize lending programs aimed to service large swaths of depositors.

You need to work with a lender that will utilize STR 1007 Data and/or AirDNA Income on a REFI.Tough deal but we do this consistently.

There is the Experian Boost that adds monthly utility bills as credit and various apps and facebook groups.

The first apartments I rented as the owner, were previously rented by the former owner at $150 month including utilities. 

Utilities will be among the first in for cleanup actions.