At least in my area, it's cheaper to own a condo with the HOA dues than it is to pay for all the utilities, snow removal, waste management, maintenance, etc, that goes along with an SFR.

Make sure the units are fully furnished with all the basics, and consider including utilities, Wi-Fi, and flexible leases to make them more appealing.

You say things like "It was understood that I would continue to utilize the garage and one room for storage as I transitioned to living out of state."

Shared laundry meant a fifth utility meter and high water costs that I paid.

A lot of lenders used to apply 35% for expenses, but in the last several years, the numbers for supplies, labor, utilities, taxes, etc… have increased significantly.Also take into account the age, occupancy and how has the property been maintained, this will affect the expenses too

GRM and cap rate both looked great, but when we pulled utility records, we found heating costs in winter were brutal because of old, inefficient systems.

Or find a property that is under-utilized or has below market rents.Otherwise, you could also do the OPPOSITE of the great advice from @Jonathan Greene and buy a property with multi-bed units or live in the larger unit and rent out the smaller unit - while getting a roommate(s).

That's just the max they will pay for rent plus utilities.

It is better suited to someone who loves Costa Rica and would like a property that they can spend a few months a year at if they would like and still cash flow after all maintenance and utilities and taxes.  

Just because the costs might be in the furture does not warrant not budgeting for those known expensesThen there is the misc costs of asset protection, bookkeeping, unexpected utilities (such as between tenants (tenant turn over) or failure not attributable to the tenant such as slab leak).