My long term goal is an extensive rental portfolio.

By deal making making sense, I am referring to a one that is priced below market value and is cashflow positive, after accounting for PITI, PMI, maintenance, utilities, vacancies, capital expenditures, acquisition & disposition costs, etc. ; further, a deal that after conservative calculations can yield an above-market cash on cash ROI. 

The utilities (water, sewer and power) were all underground.  

If I buy a house in January, spend 6 months rehabbing it, and then rent it out in July, do the holding costs during the first 6 months (prorated property tax, mortgage interest, insurance, utilities, etc) get deducted from rental income, or do they get added to the basis of the property?

This isn't just the lost rent when turning over a property but also, do you have to cover utilities during that time, have to freshen up the paint, etc.

They did ask that I upload a copy of my driver's license and a current utility bill (both had to have my current address). 

Do you have a plan to buy more in any of the three markets, where you can utilize the same property manager?  

All outdated utilities.

It still shows on our credit but it is far in past and we have good scores and low utilization.

@John Edrisy equally important element of price is how's the utilization today and can I re-position the property.