I can see why that'd be your 1st reaction but to be honest I have no real dog in this fight.

The instructor then said, "I get that same reaction each and every time.

It seems as if you simply responded to my comment as a knee-jerk reaction because you're unhappy with the idea of a fellow landlord being in favor of more tenant-friendly laws. tl;dr: You can say the government is the cause of rent increases.

Then I am stearn and fair with my reactions I fix what is broke and NOT everything they see fit like new light fixtures or installing a pellet stove in place of my wood stove. 

Bear in mind, I know nothing about your market from an STR or even long term rental perspective but my knee jerk reaction to your question is to just sell and move on.  

I do not mind submitting any offer, but I also set my clients expectations as to what the sellers reaction might be to their offer and the range of outcomes that could happen as a result.

My initial reaction is to do a single family fix/flip with a rehab loan.

My first reaction is that most likely the agent you are working with is not as experienced in this type of transaction as they probably should be.  

My first reaction - DON'T DO IT!

Nothing wrong with taking their pulse and see there reaction.