A major electrical expense has basically no ROI.   

There could be some exceptions, like if you had a lot lease in a highly in demand are, such as on a lake or in a very expensive market.

Winston-Salem has a cost of living ranked as 38/50th most expensive in NC, which means as far as NC is concerned it's pretty agreeable in pricing. 

@Davit Gharibyan They advised correctly, this adds no additional value and no additional liability protection, only additional expenses.

Quote from @Michael Plaks: There are many CPAs here and many investors who think they are CPAs.The key issue to understand is: you cannot create any tax losses from renting rooms in your house.So if I rent out one of my rooms at say $600 a month ($7200 a year), I cannot deduct more than $7200 in expenses? 

I was under the understanding that I could do a room ratio and deduct 50% of the upper unit expenses.

Is it just another expense to factor into the numbers when analyzing deals? 

We have about $250k in equity, its only cash flowing about $200 after expenses, but our loan is only at 2.375%.

I see a lot of narrative around, "cut your costs, eliminate unnecessary expenses" etc.

By purchasing a multifamily property and living in one unit while renting out the others, you can significantly reduce or eliminate your housing expenses.