They also say that they are on 20+ sites and use dynamic pricing to maximize number of bookings.    

I was wondering if I should refinance the house before I rent in order to use the cash for the another down payment, or should I build up the equity and try to maximize the cash flow through renting?

You are correct, you are not going to get a 1%/month gross rental yield.

If that is true, you will pick the structure or solution which gets you closer to your goal vs just maximizes the short term cash flow.

Taking it one step further, in theory whats stopping you from shorting a negative yielding bond in Germany and hedging the FX risk.

Therefore it actually IS time-intensive, and takes frequent changing of prices/ scanning the market for comparables/ analyzing supply&demand, etc. to optimize the occupancy/pricing mix, not to mention a bunch of other small strategies to maximize profits (I can run you through a couple if interested). 

How do you calculate these maintenance in your yield?

Oddly enough, in the Indy area, C class properties are yielding the same returns as B class properties that have less risk.

Using your own figures, spending $12,000 to create a half bath and extra small bedroom is likely to yield $200/mo in additional rent ($2400/yr). 

The yield curve continues to be inverted implying a recession in the next 6-18 months.My question is more for long term rental investors.