Unless there are local legal reasons I would probably opt for the later as that would cut down on potential confusion between spelling out 2 different ways of handling utilities in the same lease. 

With all of these, I will be at 25% of my monthly income getting cut out.

Plenty of buyers just not many sellers who agree to cut the price due to rehab costs.

Starting with whether or not you are even subject to US taxes.Talk to your accountant, it’s fairly straight forward to ascertain whether you are subject to US taxes.

She eventually let slip that she had "family attorneys" and would sue me straight to the grave, so I tracked down her attorney and wrote him a letter to explain what was happening, along with a couple of her letters.

Cookie-cutter homes without basements, a feature that not only cut costs but could be built faster.

If you could cut them in half you’d go from $315/year to over $3,000. 

There is no underlying note, it is a straight owner-finance situation.  

In the current market in Atlanta I think you're gonna have a tough time finding a cash-flowing property if you're living in a room unless you have money for a big down-payment, but it might be worth it if it's at least cutting down your monthly housing expense.

Verbal ok from a county/city employee doesn’t cut it