I have the same early goal of Kevin of wanting a minimum of $250 cash flow for each unit and then increasing my goals from there.

Keep in mind that some improvements and renovations you have made over the years will likely increase your basis in the property and decrease you capital gains.Make sure you find a CPA who specializes in real estate, rather than someone who works with all industries.

I am sure that in ten years I would be happy with the appreciation and rent increases, but I need to be aggressive as I have limited time to build my monthly cash flow for retirement.

My current provider (Vermont Mutual) just increased my premium by 20%.

Are there any laws there on how much of an increase you can make in rent for the next lease period?  

If a tenant wants to rent month-to-month, allow it at an increased rate.

The older homes in my neighborhood pay over 2K, while mine is under $500 because of the increased elevation. 

A large dilemma for my client was should I put 20% down and erase PMI/increase cashflow or put 5% down and do a little bit of value add.

The other quote i have for 18 seer system is 21k, cant understand what increases the cost by 10k from a single stage 14 seer system.

And I have to assume rental rates for other unit will appreciate higher than inflation, plus my Dad's slight increase in his rent to me 'maybe'...I see this as a net gain for me as even taking a ~$3k loss (yes this doesn't include over costs associated with managing a rental) each year for say 10 years, I save $60k of an original downpayment and can push it all into as tax advantaged vanguard fund gaining hopefully more than my loss on a year over year basis.