When do interest rates change? 

It's easy to default to the familiar. 

If you pay the loan off before selling or do a refi and have $1 of equity, it won’t affect your taxable gain. 2) if you stay 2 years you’ll have 14 years of personal use out of 22 years so 63.6% of the gain cane be exempted, up to $500k.

It sucks but thats how EM deposits work in virtually all markets.. now one thing I personally do as a buyer is I will send in money but NOT EM I will send in money as part of the purchase price and Zero Em that way I can recall the money at any time since its not EM.. 

However, it is not what it used to be.

Now do not get me wrong, tech has its place in real estate, but it’s not a replacement for expertise.

It’s overkill but it’s much cheaper and easier to use. 

My takeaway was never to tell the insurance about a loss unless you actually do have a loss.  

How do I know the vacancy rate / how long it took to find renters for comparable properties?

They may be assuming you're doing more significant work than you are.