I am only familiar with the contract in my state but items seller agrees to do based on inspection findings are their responsibility unless spelled out differently.  

When an owner replaces or retires certain items (e.g., lighting, HVAC, or carpeting), they can claim a deduction for the remaining undepreciated value of those items.

It would cash flow nicely.One item to plan for from the beginning is the exit. 

Basically almost all the items you mentioned when traveling can be written off to a certain extent.

I can run and model numbers and am a CPA so comfortable with the finance side of things.

This would be my first STR so I also am personally interested in giving this business model a try to see if I do want to operate in this space longer term and want to do this properly. 

Kudos to you for doing something to create a secondary income stream. there are 5 income streams in RE rentals, possibly six if you do things a certain way.The reality here is your model (buy box) is suffering from too high an entry and too high a cost of capital.

Will work on some of these actionable items

If there is someone's busines model you aspire to, see what they are doing.

Focus on the big-ticket items and estimate costs.Financing: Whether it's private money, hard money loans, or a traditional lender, make sure your financing is lined up.