I am an out of state landlord and my philosophy is not to provide more than what is necessary so I don't have to be responsible for the upkeep. pleas advise.

Factors to consider: military clauses for renters (they can get out of leases for a deployment or moving duty locations), demand for housing near bases is always there, steady paycheck, responsible and accountable for paying and upkeep of the property (you can contact their chain of command if they don't hold up their end of the bargain). 

I fully agree that it is smart of landlords to treat great tenants as if they are worth their weight in gold.

One benefit is the constant cleaning and upkeep necessary to maintain good reviews.

We ended up keeping our sink as it was on tile, and upgraded the vanity/mirror to make it look nice.   

They do cash flow well but there is a particular weight that I feel every time a storm is in the gulf or a freeze happens in winter or the rain won’t stop… I guess the idea of getting in and out of flip projects every 45-90 days to get a return feels less risky I guess.

It’s a diamond in the rough when you can find a solid tenant for 6 years. 100% occupancy for 6 years is worth its weight in gold.

My first filter would be comparing the cap rate of the property [this is basically the operating margin of the asset] with your weighted average interest rate [ for example if you borrow $80k @ 3% and $20k @ 9% your effective interest rate is 5%] If your effective interest rate is higher than your Cap Rate, the investment doesn't make sense, at least in the short term.

This implies that you basically are going to have a heavy weight (the insurance company) in your corner in any suit.One umbrella policy can protect all assets.  

But for your income property, they'll give greatest weight to the income method (the one based on NOI and cap rate as you said), as they should.You wrote "NOI divided by the Cap Rate" but keep in mind, the appraiser will use what they feel is a market cap rate, not the cap rate when you purchased the property or a cap rate you want them to use.