An other advantage of paying with credit card may be that you will not have to send the provider a 1098 tax form (only an issue if the total yearly amount is over $800). 

Great hosts will be good neighbors, will contribute to local tourism and will pay their taxes and permit fees* A major area to improve on the proposal is the 1 hour time-limit for resolving complaints.

These are features like online renter payments, tenant portal (for payments and work orders), help keeping track of work orders, tax reporting features, and accounting functionality.

I"m also seeing people doing STRs to get the tax benefits besides the higher cash flow. 

The interest would be tax deductible due to interest tracing rules. 

How do we minimize taxes on the profit we're making on this first home? 

That helps some...but your variable expenses also go up too - property insurance & taxes - so a lot of your rent increases go to offset rising variable expenses.I started at the age of 47 in 2018 and we bought properties fast and furious - 12 the first year, 10 the next, and 9 in 2021 and currently have 38 properties. 

I've seen estimates that are off by 300% when all said and done (e.g. the original bid was $10k but the final cost was closer to $30k).

There may be something called a "Due On Sale" clause.Check and see if all tax parcels are included in one mortgage or if they have separate mortgages.You have to have him spell out what he considers to be a "partial seller financing".

How would this be accounted for for general accounting and taxes?