Based on what I learned from the internet, it seems that the best way is to count the number of rooms in the house and take a percentage of the total household expenses, i.e. we have 4 bedrooms, 1 living room, 1 dining room, 1 kitchen, 1 office, so the office expense should be 1/8 of the total expenses, including property tax, utility, home insurance, etc.  5.

Most store bought systems out now utilize WiFi but the property doesn't have WiFi set up yet.

A question for those with experience house hacking a multi-family house:What was the most financially-intelligent way to utilize your tenant's rent to apply it towards your own mortgage payments?

My current living expenses for renting a room in a house including utilities is about $1000.

I can do most of it remotely, but there are times where I really need someone on the ground to run an errand for me, like meet the utility company and show them where the trees need trimming near the power lines, to drain the water heater, etc. 

From the title, I thought you were asking what a tenant should do before moving in, not what a landlord/PM should do before the tenant moves in.For the tenant, they need to get utilities put in their name and show proof of that before they are given the keys.

I'm excited to see what others say here.But in my situation, I've had several very successful mentors tell me to strive to build some sort of steady active income and then utilize that to buy rental properties.

One thing I would say to be careful with is paying utilities for tenants.

Pros: Gas is very efficient, so it can reduce your utility bill significantly over electric or oil furnaces.

If you decide to refinance and pull equity, you won't be able to utilize the 5:1 ratio which your cash should be providing you.As for which path is better is a highly personal one.