If there is a steady appreciation as planned, then I can sell for a solid profit margin after some appreciation and chipping away at the principle with my option payments.

Their objection is not really your percentages.

I would suggest deciding what your goals and objectives are.

@Mackal Smith I agree with Thomas in principle. 

My primary objective is acquiring decent cash flow and the savings that I have aren’t tied to any kind of debt.

More desirable towns will fetch higher rents.If money were no object, I'd probably do my flips in Brookline, Cambridge, Beacon Hill, Newton, Wellesley, Weston and Dover. 

Oh yeah, another law school lesson I found useful and amusing, the "Call Girl principle." 

If you can cover that $155/month out of your personal budget and rental income from the other half of the duplex, you might decide it makes more sense to keep your first property running at a small loss for now and reap the other benefits of real estate: principle pay down, depreciation, future rent increases, etc.Especially when you look at what it'd cost you to sell it at this point. 

I have heard this called the shiny object syndrome and occasionally suffer from it myself.

There are universal principles of success that everyone who has ever succeeded has followed.