HUD allows a 15 day period to initiate utilities at eh buyer's expense IF the FSM allows the utilities to be turned on based on their previous inspections. 

Management (even if you self manage you should budget for it so that that if something changes you have the room for it) repairs, maintenance, (this should b low initially since you just did rehab but in the rental game things happen and you should plan for it) Snow removal?

The owner asked way too much money initially and I countered with a more reasonable offer and we haven’t spoken since.

The seller initially wanted $175k for it and we negotiated it down to $162k.

After my initial research, I was thinking my best option would be to pursue an FHA loan but after learning a little bit about Short-Sales, I wasn’t sure if that would be a better option for me?

If trash pickup or scavengers don't get it, remove it later on as part of the rehab debris.Should be easily doable in 8-10 weeks, including initial notice.

My question for you today is due to the fact that we haven't settled on a syndication attorney yet--we're still in the initial phase before we go through that process and potentially have one on retainer.

Can someone show me how to work up an initial offer to present them? 

It's not smart to use an escalation when making an initial offer since the seller could simply counter offer back at the cap amount knowing what the buyer will pay.

There are three groups of costs:Broker fees and commission splitMLS / National Association of Realtor fees - this is the one no one ever thinks about and is generally the highest initial cost (google your local MLS and check out their initial sign on fees and monthly costs or just give them a call)Lead Generation - should you choose to spend money on it2.