A new cooktop/oven range and slide-in refrigerator is part of this project, as are replacing laminate countertops and installing a new sink and faucet.

Cap ex is not easy to absorb and the "excel pro-forma"  rarely materializes as reality. 

Changing cabinetry after it's installed is generally expensive and looks piecemeal.If you put a dishwasher where the oven is, you'd have to pay a plumber to run a line back over to the sink and it will cut through that corner cabinet Basically, if you're moving stuff around, it is a big deal. 

Last night after work I had to fix a water heater on one property, a water line leak under a sink at another property, and work on an HVAC unit at a third property.

Going into this with blinders on and not understanding the risk that you could lose everything is reality and this happened to many 15 years ago. 

In reality what happens is you end up paying more for a "clean house" but because you are doing a flip people want new mechanicals (central air, 200 amp electric, pvc plumbing stack) so you end up doing a full gut or larger rehab then simple cosmetics and now your returns have shrunk.In your situation for your first investment I would be ok with a smaller return because of the experience gained, but for the next look for larger profit.

I'm not sure if you recall the sink hole in Seffner (East of Tampa) where a sink hole swallowed a guy in bed.

If the surrounding area has a lot of tear down and rebuild or there’s no inexpensive way to renovate to make it more functional, likely not worth sinking much more money into it if most future buyers will just prefer to tear it down.

People say RE investing is ONLY about numbers, but in reality that's just not accurate in my opinion. 

So reality is, low %rates = problems on getting a buy and pricing issues.