It sounds like these were good tenants and the $1,000 charge is questionable (could fall under normal wear and tear and nobody should expect a tenant to maintain garden beds perfectly, that one is too subjective to prove they didn’t go a good enough job IMO).

I really depends on the specific property and location.Get a good enough deal and you can cash flow. 

I used Flipper Force for a while and liked it as well, but the accounting features aren't good enough so it wasnt worth the money for me just to use the project management portion when ClickUp does it well. 

And if they qualified for a $1,500 a month unit, they should be making good enough money to get the max unemployment, or close to it. 

What helped most people get unstuckFrom my experience:Locking into one primary marketFinding an agent + PM combo that invests themselvesSeeing real rent rolls and PM pro formas, not MLS guessesBuying something “good enough” instead of perfectI’m a real estate agent based in Memphis, TN, and I help out-of-state investors build buy-and-hold portfolios here.

Their word is good enough for me. 

The good-enough Airbnb just doesn't seem to do that well anymore. 

It eats up too much of my and my partner's time.Our rehabs have been good enough to generate a big bump in rents and cash flow, beyond our projections.That said, we have had to sink a lot of our own time & labor into the rehabs, so it is definitely an intensive investment.

The short answer is yes in my opinion.As you say the great properties in great areas are always going to do well.The "Airbnb" type properties (Ones not good enough to do well on Vrbo) are going to struggle unless they have something going for them like being close to someplace like a hospital, university or are very walkable to something interesting. 

The Go Daddy vacation rental template was good enough for me and super easy.