If the water bill is $100 a month, increase the price by 20% (or whatever you decide is fair) to compensate you for the time required to split and bill and to cover additional use when tenants squander the utility.

From strictly a loan origination standpoint you are better off charging your brother the fair market rent and then work out other arrangements to compensate him for the maintenance work.

If they are not under a single lease it is considered a "rooming house"...which is probably not permitted but check your zoning here.The Zoning Code says a rooming house "contains 3 or more rooming units occupied...as a primary residence by individuals who, even though they do share common areas and facilities, do not form a single housekeeping unit and do not provide compensation under a single lease for occupancy of the facility"Look at pages 47 and 80 of the PDF.

Of course, most buyers don't have that sort of connections but they can compensate for that by doing a proper due diligence. 

I'm wondering if any of you would be open to meeting for a coffee or allowing me to compensate you for your time, as I'm keen on learning from your expertise in this field.

You have to earn a monumental return to compensate for the risk of sending money to an unknown you discover online.

Bottom line: Can the con of "significantly less" returns be remedied/compensated by increasing one's inventory of properties (portfolio size) - all while maintaining all the 'pros'?

They will generally talk to you without compensation to see if they want to help with the claim.

If yes, how does the realtor receive his/her compensation?

If a resort canceled your stay a month after a reservation was made and a few months before your travel, as a customer, what would be your expectation for compensation?