Hello BP Community, it's been awhile since I've last posted or have had downtime lately.

It is always better to have the tenant paying for the utilities as they are the ones using them. 

The companies that market themselves as "garage door companies" (residential) also almost always do commercial stuff as well, such as what you are looking at.

(kind of like your entire post, but I digress.)

We would buy a house live in it for 2-3 years then on to the next and rent the old one out.

Does seasoning start when the property is bought? 

If the software is not simplifying your life or making you more accurate, you shouldn't use it.Software does have extremely helpful features like online payments, marketing syndication (click a button, and your property is advertised on multiple sites), electronic document review/signing, maintenance tracking, and owner reports.

The deal has to make sense and you really need to know the comps to make sure your investment is going to actually make money.

The tenant in common nature of the ownership would tell me that you would only be related to your mother in laws portion at the most. 

In fact I can have half of the rooms occupied and still pay the mortgage.