If your reno is longer than a couple months the carrying costs will eat up that gross profit.

You can likely find a distressed property here in Houston in a good area with $80k-$100k out of pocket and fully funded by HML for the other % & rehab, then maybe keep some of the money in the house and have it more cash flow oriented or take all out and eat the little OTM play.

Properties I looked at in Gulf Shores managed by Vacassa and others had severe deferred maintenance which has to eat into revenue due to lower occupancy, pricing and refunds.4.

(things to do, places to eat, school district, etc.)

Damages can eat up your profits quickly. 

Spending $20k on exterior if windows roof and painting are needed will eat up costs pretty fastBest to itemize what needs to be done and then determine a rough estimated cost

Eat frigging crab-legs for breakfast dinner and lunch?

(Sorry, my dear Friendly Fairbankians), most people won't spend money to go to Fairbanks and eat frozen moose when it's 40 degrees below zero.

I elect to leave the tenant in peace and eat the vacancy cost and not show until they are moved out for the same reason. 

There’s no secret formula out there, you will find it near impossible to cash flow with these rates almost anywhere in the greater dmv, you can put more down, you can eat negative cash flow, you can invest in another market (I like the eastern shore, though even there you are probably breaking even at best) or you can put your money in a different asset class, the market decides your return’s for the most part, not you.