Well, STR can work well for people who own a vacation house for personal use, and just want to generate some extra income when not in use.  

It's easy to obtain, costs very little, and doesn't require extra, on-going effort to maintain.

Any taxes not owed, a seller merely file a tax return with the state, just like any other tax returns filed for extra taxes a government has with held. 

Should I take extra steps to verify their identity and legitimacy?

If it’s a must-have, it might be worth the extra time in your schedule.

If anyone who professes to teach you something about real estate cannot or will not identify 10-20 specific, verifiable addresses they currently own and rent out, or have flipped, or optioned away or syndicated or whatever, they do not deserve any of your money. 

then theirs charges 1000s in extra fees. 

I plan to pull a standard lease agreement from the Florida Supreme Court website and review it with her next week.I have received a new job opportunity where I will be making an extra 40k annually and must move out of my home quicker than I initially expected.

The reality is the opposite - if it's not in writing then the PMC doesn't have to provide the service or can charge extra for it!

You can make more through co-living in most markets, but still likely to be better off house hacking 1 / year and then buy out of state with your extra cash.If you want to chat strategy with someone - feel free to PM me or reach out to contact info in my bio!