I want to see how he does it but I feel like adding in that padding for negotiating process is absolutely critical.

Be prepared to replace the pads every other season. 

I use sherwin williams flooring and get the carpet and pad for about $1 - $1.50 sqft.

However, does that include padding and what kind of carpet?

I have stumbled into a couple of rental properties that I pad cash for and would just deposit the rent checks every month without thinking about if I was making enough, charging too much etc.

Keep in mind that I pad my expenses quite a bit to be safe (typically 5.5% vacancy, 6% maintenance, 5% contingency, and 12.81% property management fees.

According to pad mapper and rent-o-meter there are 2 available rentals there, while in another city (over 20,000 population), I am seeing only 1 available rental. 

I just ripped out the carpet and pad at a new place I bought, and the subfloor is very dirty.  

For associations that use the electronic lockbox (ours uses SUPRA boxes/keys), each member has their own key pad with the serial number attached to their membership ID.  

No more carpet cleaning bills or urine seeping into the carpet pad and floor board.