The meters are not seperated in the house yet, I am thinking of doing this down the line but for now I will just be adding it as a fee to the rent.

This is the minimum requirement for counting a room as a BR on the MLS.If it does, the next question I would ask is "How easily (read: costly) can a wall be added to make this into a true bedroom?"

You'll be adding and subtracting as you go. 

I have mine, and although I use it for investment purposes only, I have allowed my commissions to be added towards closing costs.

You'd simply be adding costs to the deal for no real problem that needs solving.But since many of us are looking to grow a little faster than that and likely don't have that much money in the bank, I'm a firm believer that using hard money is the best way to go for many buy and hold investors.

The second is the treatment of expenses while it wasn't occupied at all; you state that it was "ready to rent" but then made some repairs and maintenance - those repairs and maintenance would definitely be expenses when occupied by a tenant, but might have to be added to the basis (if the IRS doesn't agree with your interpretation of "ready to rent").

I'm new as well and would love to attend the Santa Monica REI meeting, @Jeff Greenberg may I be added to your email list as well? 

Well, one way to look at it is to think of the value you’ll be adding to the property.

If he did not - then basis is certainly not correct and you likely missing out on basis from closing(lender fees, title costs, transfer taxes etc).Make sure you tell your accountant about the out of pocket upgrades - they should be added to basis(unless you expensed them in the prior year).

Here is the link to last months and you can PM me your email if you want to be added to the email list.