The carpets were so old that the pad had disintegrated in places but once we vacuumed it up the floors still had their original shine which had been covered for 50 years.

But the reality is, you can't assess these both in a vacuum and say one is one and the other is the other.  

Im an airline pilot by day and house flipper / agent by night.

I’m interested in out of state rental properties, but worry often about this being the case.So, when is the right time to fly out without accumulating too many airline miles?

We all tend to look backwards and prove our numbers forgetting the building is not in a vacuum.

Do you have a vacuum cleaner?  

If fuel prices stay low, airline tickets should also stay low.

Through no fault of their own, the 2nd hand smoker, especially in the days when airlines were allowing smoking, can develop and have been proven to have higher incidence of cancer.The "empirical cost" was not paid at all by the Tobacco companies and in fact, developed propaganda campaigns to mislead the public.After the mounting evidence reached a certain point, taxes on Cigarettes skyrocketed, for at least 2 reasons. 1) to discourage the use of cigarettes so you DON'T have an increase of getting cancer and 2) to help pay for some of the empirical costs associated with the healthcare costs.In the case of Investors following the OP's strategy is one that I have personally seen time and time again.

Maximizing financial return in a vacuum is not always optimal. 

That being said I think we are both on the same page that neither cash flow or appreciation should be considered in a vacuum to make decisions but the whole investment should be looked at as comprehensive investment.