I let the co-tenants pick the person they  want to screen first in this case since they are living with them. 

The utilities are worth 6-7k

Any utilities?

Final Note, my area is about 20 minutes from downtown St Louis across the river here in Illinois, investors from STL are picking off properties over here adding further scarcity.Just hoping to spark a discussion that might help me and others - where do you find your good buys?

The reason being is that one of the option for reducing taxes on active income (such as flipping) is by utilizing an S election...which is an election made on an LLC. 

I have never owned a home, so I have no real assets to put up to be approved finance through a hard money lender. so my question stems, should I use a FHA  loan for my fist investment (and home) for a buy and hold property , and then later utilize a hard money lender for additional Buy and hold investments?

The owner estimated the costs, utilities, maintenance, and repairs to be approximately $35k per year as he pays all the utilities for the tenants.

I called my closing attorney and he said that the taxes "run with the property" and that is no longer my issue and that the closing attorney for the buyer should have picked that up during his search.

The property owner currently pays the utilities and it needs some work. 

Most septic systems supporting a single home are sized one at a time unless planned as part of a larger community.Between the land development, utility costs and bringing in a home it can be a good cash burn, so make sure you have it all spec'd out.