The bigger upside than cash flow is actually appreciation...not from market appreciation but by increasing revenue and NOI and making improvements.

If it is a more conservative core or core plus strategy (i.e. no or little improvements to the property), then the majority of the return is going to be from income.

I heard alot of good things about them they have some great nuggets on you tube.

If the improvements you mentioned are correct, raise rents and extra parking, then it looks pretty decent to me.

Look into Graham Stephens on YouTube.

If you want to get your hands "dirty" and you like improving things, then go into flipping.

Don't forget about YouTube & IG.

I'm totally ok with the idea of not improving my standard of living substantially, now, though. 5 years down the road I might crave those upgrades more, though.I don't think you're looking at it wrong.

We've been doing ST Rentals for 4 years and over the course of those 4 years I personally feel AirBnB is continually improving and VRBO's platform is getting less user friendly and they are always finding clever ways to add fees on the user and the guest. 

And even if the items fall under improvements or an asset that needs to be depreciated, you can elect to expense them with de minimis safe harbor if the expense is below 2500 per items.