I also use the spreadsheet to keep myself honest - it helps no one to inflate estimated profits. 

., the court found that in determining unconscionability, the trial judge may consider: 1) the amount of the proposed rent increase; 2) the landlord’s expenses and profitability; 3) how the existing and proposed rent compare to rents charged at similar rental properties in the geographic area; 4) the relative bargaining position of the parties; and 5) based on the judge’s general knowledge, whether the rent increase would shock the conscience of a reasonable person.

So for smaller guys, you really don't need to be exact to make really good profit, and for bigger companies they have a ton of experience and analysis infrastructure they don't want to trade the liability for the charity.

A 24 should definately be more profitable than your duplexes.

Once you sell a particular property for a profit, that profit must be rolled into another property of "like-kind" within 180 days of the sale. 

Listen to @Lucas Carl  Forget about trying to make this property a profitable STR. 

Our portfolio is finally passive but it took many years to get there.In today's market, generating lots of profitable deal is the time challenge for investors (not PM) and it takes networking, marketing, and direct to owner contact; so, we have pivoted to more passive investing with others who have full time staff dedicated to deal flow every day. 

First, your goals should never include a number of properties...those are the wrong numbers to focus on.Second, holding the property appears to not be a profitable solution. 

My plan would be to rent it out monthly with the crappy kitchen, knowing I’ll lose money on it for a year (hopefully not much longer than this), then once we are able to renovate the kitchen, we should be able to generate some good cash flow.  

The money is leaving those gateway cities because the big funds cannot generate the returns their fund prospectus requires.