Better to use a tried and true network versus reinventing the wheel. 

Bigger the project, the bigger the budget for improvements

You don't have renovate a kitchen, but the more aged it is, the fewer tenants will be willing to rent from you, which means you ultimately get stuck with who is willing to rent versus who you want to rent from you.

I am actively growing and improving my properties along the way.

Anchors and national tenants will often have a form estoppel that is an exhibit to their lease.In residential, a lease audit is typically performed versus estoppels.  

You should run numbers on both a mortgaged property and a property paid with cash for COCR purposes.As for rule of thumb, many investors would like to leverage their ability to obtain mortgages and start with a lot of units, versus dumping all working capital into one unit and not being able to make further moves until its regained (which could take years).It sounds like you don't have a single property -- I'd recommend running numbers and taking the plunge on a mortgaged property, getting some experience and operational protocols in place, and then expand from there.

The deal was adjacent to a current 4-plex that I own -- makes things easier for operations and better for lowering expenses (Trash - 1 dumpster instead of two), cap. improvements, etc.

This can improve my cash flow on the rental to about $600. 

People going to Florida will be happy to stay in a hotel on the beach, versus a house a few miles away.2.

It's a VA Loan so other than the funding fee and $15k flooring improvements and around $15k for something else (bad memory) I have nothing else in the house.