Death Rate: The death rate has been gradually increasing.

Everyone’s got the same problem: STR oversaturationPrices are high in most markets and if/when you do buy, your competition is fierce thus pushing down nightly rates and occupancy rates in almost every worthwhile marketGood luck fixing that! 

I would say anyone who has done 5 flips is experienced and that success rate should be closer to 90% and up.

Your ability to turn around a property with an 11% cap rate is a pretty strong selling point.

Charge the tenants a higher rent rate and include utilities with their rent.

also we do not know what is going to happen with int rates, they are very high now, the economy is not good and it is not certain they will be coming down this year. we know there will be more responsible gov spending, so maybe rates will come down, no way to know...I think you need to know the market where you plan to buy well, and go from thereBest of luck

The metrics I'm primarily focused on are: rent appreciation rate, property appreciation rate, economic growth rate, unemployment rate on the macro level.

Plus, that is the cheapest that money will ever be for you.  2.65% interest rate? 

You snowball plan has a very high success rate.

The higher the cap rate, the more risk involved in the building.