You can still achieve it, but finding deals that actually pencil out on all criteria (low enough purchase price, low enough renovation cost, cash flows on the backend, all cash out at refinance) is pretty hard.

Ditto, I use PriceLabs for my STRs - here is a nice writeup ...Airbnb Smart Pricing Vs PriceLabs: An In-Depth Comparison For Hosts | Boost Your Short-Term Rentals

There's no reason to provide details, though I do let people know if anyone asks that we do not accept bulk up-front rent payments or anything like that because I absolutely do not want a prospective tenant to think that someone else swooped in with a bunch of cash last minute.

Or any amount of cash you take out from the exchange are considered to be profit. 

Self managed HOAs are usually undercapitalized so you want to take a thorough review of the condition of the community to make sure there isn’t deferred maintenance because you might get hit with a special assessment if the board isn’t setting aside cash for those capital improvements.At face value, taking into consideration my typical financial objectives, I wouldn’t do this deal unless it was a much lower price.

Any positive cash flow should go towards paying off debt.

In a market like this you will get in the way of obvious appreciation.Then you can look for a deal that cash flows in your favorite market market. 

The appraiser is there to determine fair cash value.

A cash out refi should take 2-3 weeks with most lenders, and you should have only an appraisal a credit report fee as upfront costs. 

There's a monthly cash flow 101 game in Bloomington through MN REIA.