My SFR acquisitions have been great, but I'm dead set on stepping up my game into apartment complexes.

We expect to be back in town soon and we'll set up another meetup!

Ours is a student rental so we set more aside for maintenance and repairs, however, because of the location our vacancy is really low.  

With this latest property, I want to learn the ropes so I advertised and found a nice young married couple who can afford the rent.Move in day is tomorrow, and we set up the time for the walk-through for late-afternoon.

Is it cost effective to replace and set up individual meters?

We are set to close late November on a turn key.

There is not set time, it really depends on many many factors such as your market, condition of property, contractors, permit approval time etc..

What about setting up an LLC and renting to the LLC, would that work?

You tell them they must vacate and do no damage then you will not take legal action against them (I call this the easy option) and you will then either allow them to use their deposit against what they owe you and/or set up a "promissory note" payment plan - which is enforceable by law. 

Our current plan is to try to get a variance because current zoning is set for 8,500 sqft lots and the property subdivided will only be around 7,000 sqft each.