My hunch is that if the property you're looking at is a good investment the benefits of buying and owning the property would likely outweigh whatever capital gains tax you incur when selling those shares.If you want to be extra sure, talk to a RE friendly CPA - BP has a great directory

Additionally, the increase in monthly income may not outweigh the potential risks associated with taking on more debt.One potential strategy to consider is to focus on maximizing the income potential of your current properties by increasing rents and potentially leveraging any potential increases in property values.

Sometimes the risk (self-install) outweighs the reward (saving money) especially if there is an unknown factor with the tenants ability to do the install. 

What you need to consider is the costs to refinance possibly outweighing the benefit of the lowered interest rate, depending on the time you plan to hold the property.

I agree that the value of future gains outweighs the negative cash flow.I hadn't thought of rental arbitrage.

Overall, the long-term benefits of converting to central HVAC outweigh the upfront cost, making it a worthwhile investment for landlords.

Will the appreciation outweigh the cashflow in the next 5-10 years?

There are a lot of factors to consider when get a cost seg study to determine if the benefits outweigh the costs.

Whatever risks might come with an "amateur" faucet installation are outweighed by cost, and should already be covered by insurance anyway.

@Yang Zeng, I was in a similar dilemma when I began investing in real estate.I spent months comparing out-of-state opportunities with larger purchases at home in LA.Ultimately, I decided that the equity gains I could make in LA far outweighed the cashflow available from less-expensive homes in the Midwest.