So I used the BP rental calculator to figure out how much I should be charging for rent on my current home.

There are also lots on online mortgage calculators that can tell you that information. 

These are just expenses that I write off and use to calculate cash flow.

They should be able to take the average rental rate for the area and apply it to their calculations to submit to underwriting. 

View report*This link comes directly from our calculators, based on information input by the member who posted.would you do this?.

When analyzing a rental and trying to calculate cash flow, how do you estimate utilities and expenses?

If you run the numbers (at minimum use the BP calculators) and factor the expenses of rental property you'll learn what COC means.

i have the benefit of the VA loan and my friend that is on pretty much the same pay was given up to 350K loan with the VA loan, so i figured it would be easy for me to secure that financing and get a nice quadplex. boy was i wrong... the bank is only willing to give me a 150K loan (which is weird as i also have similiar credit to my buddy) and living in augusta georgia everything that is multifamily is very expensive and old. the cheapest duplex i could find was 180K and in disrepair, so i decided perhaps i could just buy a single family home and have roommates/ split the house/ ADU. but i can't even get quotes from local construction companies until i own the home apparently. so i don't think i can calculate the expenses until after i buy the home.so based on the situation i'm reaching out for help on the forums. any advice is appreciated!

If I'm using a conventional loan that offers 70% LTV on a cash-out refi, I calculate the maximum loan I can get.  

As i do my calculations, in which i put 6% on CapEx, 6% on Repair / Maintenance, 2.3% property tax plus the PM fee (8% of gross rent plus full month placement fee), i almost never find any property that is cash flowing (even just a small number).