@Greta Andrews Dave Ramsey a nationally respected financial expert , best selling author, and financial advisor calls whole life( cash value) insurance a con job orchestrated on novice investors by “ enthusiastic ignoramuses” masquerading as financial advisors.Borrowing money from yourself and paying interest on your own money is a non common sense approach to investing. 

-  How do you assess deductions for damage in a common area such as a kitchen? 

You have to decide.Software is a common question on BiggerPockets.

ALWAYS consider common sense repairs before making a choice to demo and replace anything.

@Grant Bartel Replacing a bathroom vanity is a common upgrade or replacement project.

The 20% down with a conventional loan also gave you a great start with lower monthly payments, which helps when maximizing rental cash flow.Regarding the lesson you learned about letting the seller take advantage of small asks, it's a common challenge for newer investors.

These combi-boilers are very common and super efficient.

I have been playing around with python to build financial models and wanted to get some tips on how to make my models more user friendly and better at solving common pain points.

You only need to put a small game plan together to start running the numbers base don zipcode, property type, sale prices, common rents/cash flow.You would be surprised how far $150K can get you to cover a New primary home and 1-2 rental properties back to back. 

If you don't have enough to buy with cash and will get a mortgage, I would focus on finding a good-value home with a solid CAP rate and Cash-on-Cash return that will appreciate and fit the most common rental size house in your area.