I am based in Charlottesville VA and even though I make excellent cash flow on my STRs, that cash flow has always been dwarfed by my appreciation.

We have chosen to target 5-6 bedroom homes in Kissimmee, FL due to the excellent short term rental market.

As @Gorden Lopes referenced, folks who started investing here in the last several years have likely already scored excellent appreciation. 

Sometimes these properties need rehab, other times they're ready to go.I'm looking for recommendations on the best tools or Excel templates for deal analysis.

Initially we registered with the FTC to get the DNC lists for the area codes we work in, but found that the CSV files were huge (over 1 million rows for just one of the area codes), far exceeding what you can do in Excel.

I will say that I have an excellent tenant who has been there for 2 years & no problems.

You want to ensure that your lender is doing their upfront due diligence on the deal, has programs to get the deal done if the final numbers come in different(low DSCR requirements, favorable rent guidelines, etc), and is offering you excellent customer service.

Quote from @Andrew Rees: In this case you're running a business...Therefore:1 - Be professional, 2 - perform excellent customer service!

You can still find excellent deals that still cash-flow in the rapidly expanding city of Columbus, Ohio.

I keep track of what I spend on materials pretty close, but I use excel.