hi darvin. here is the possible deal. banks have been dropping some houses from their books lately. by this i mean they started the foreclosure, then decided it was not worth their time and effort to own and resell the house, so they drop it off their books. they then file a release of lein with the local register of deeds. that is key here. if the bank has released the lein, the house now belongs to the orginal owner and you can buy directly from them. the banks usually hire a firm such as safeguard or others to " manage" the house while it is in foreclosure. this being mowing the lawn, checking on the house on a bi-weekly basis, etc. when the lawn stops being mowed, papers pile up on the porch, taxes stop  being paid, etc. its likely the bank has released their lein. you then need to find the owner and buy him out. usually they do not care about the house and will let it go dirt cheap. good luck

Most of the landlords I talk to around here provide a lawnmower and gas and have the tenants maintain the lawn.

I don't think that we're out of the woods yet with the poor economy in Michigan - instead, it seems that the newbie investors and out-of-towners are artificially inflating the housing prices.

Tenants pay all utilities and handle snow removal as well as lawn mowing.

They get out there and they mow their lawns, they have the brick repointed when the mortar wears out, they get guys up on their roofs to replace their shingle, they get on the municipality to redo the sidewalks, and they resolutely hang out their decorations for Halloween and Christmas every year (look for dedicated efforts block-by-block during the holidays).

And I can tell you that dumping automated voicemails on me just lights my fuse.It's the equivalent of driving by my front yard and flinging a pile of junk mail onto my lawn. 

Hey John and Lucas,appreciate your time and response.Wife and I live in one house and daughter and grandkids live in the other house with the well + meter.It is an average of $30 + that our usage increases my daughters bill.If we water lawn etc it can go up as much as $40+ a month.We are looking to rent the 2 houses and didn't want any issues with the future renters.I would like it to be as accurate as possible to the point I thought about running a 120v leg of power from our house to the wells power to know for sure its 50/50.

Also the outside of the house, the manicured lawn, the windows, etc. 

In Indiana Housing and Neighborhood Development(HAND) is responsible for managing overgrown lawns and such.

All your cash flow is likely artificially created by your equity.