That’s another reason I prefer side by side duplexes, so you have seperate water meters and gas and electric too and the tenants pay those bills.  

One of the things I would take into consideration would be maintenance costs so a 1940s property makes me question the age of the plumbing and electrical, two of the most expensive problems to have.

My general rule of thumb (not very accurate) is I calculate $10,000 for each major project (new electrical, new plumbing, new flooring, etc...).

Just recently closed on a quad-plex. 1 bed. 1 bath, everything will be completely new, including plumbing & electrical.

Electric jack hammer , shovels , 5 gallon bucket , and lots of motrin .

Do they require a full gut rehab or is it possible to find properties that only need updated kitchen, paint, flooring and not foundation, electrical, and larger projects?

One of them is all electric.

This has been harder than scraping popcorn ceilings, running new electrical wires, or anything else I've had to do. 

For another, my occupancy of the MIL is so unpredictable and sporadic that it is hard to develop any rationale for the portion I should pay even if I wanted to do so (but it would definitely be less than the sq ft proportion).So, I was thinking of just laying it on the line for prospective tenants, "yes, you will pay all electric/gas/water/cable/trash, and yes that includes for the MIL suite, but I will pay landscaping ($200/mth) and pest control spraying ($30-$50/mth)".It probably wouldn't deter the discovery of a decent tenant, but I'm fearful I'd be planting the seed for some amount of resentment, whereas if I were to communicate (or treat) the situation differently, maybe I could avoid and have a nice Kumbaya relationship.Any ideas on how I could best handle this situation?  

In a rental case I'm guessing most people would not be interested in those circumstances,  and those who would consider the option certainly wouldn't pay a premium for it.So I guess the question is,  when accounting for water, sewer, and electrical hookups,  THEN what time to install and what is the ROI?