That is an awesome story and just goes to show what can happen when you control the tempo.

Your booms & busts will be closely tied to macroeconomic trends that are beyond your control.

If you can't keep control of your personal finances, you are highly unlikely to succeed in real estate investing.

You never know when they will change their terms/commission rates so getting it under your own control makes a lot of sense. 

On top of this if your half-azz decent you have; tens of thousands in annual legal fee's for annual contract reviews and refinements per what has come to pass in the year, compliance staff to keep on top of all the various compliance changes in every municipality of overlapping control (city, county, state, federal). 

How can we best finance this without surrendering all of that control (and $$$) to a contractor?

And, including utilities in the rent is more problematic than most because you have no control over the expense. 

It allows you to control how your assets are distributed according to what you want vs what the state thinks is best. 

Some states have laws the prevent you from evicting them unless they break a lease and then they have rent control on top of that which caps the rental income you can charge each year. 

@David G.There are some things you can do to take control away from a tenant who is digging their heels in about departing.