If, however, you have extensive flipping experience, that can count as experience for some lenders. 

I don't want it to be counted as a monthly obligation for another loan I'm getting in the meantime. 

Count me in 👍👍 

Items such as electricity/water are not counted against you UNLESS you wrote those off as an expense, which you likely did. 

Rental income also sometimes has seasoning requirements before a lender wants to count it towards covering the debt you incurred.You don't mention how much income you will need to be financially independent.  

So 1 compressor and count how many blowers you want for your house.

Stress, risk, relationships, and all the non-flashy things apart from money count for a lot.Maybe one day I'll get a chance to meet him myself.

As Adam mentioned, larger unit counts mean less face to face but if you're able to it certainly couldn't hurt! 

So, if your aren't counting them in your calculations here then your cashflow is probably $255 LESS (assuming 5% budgeted for each) for a new cashflow of $245.

Not counting maintaining the LLC.