Easy to clean and safe. 

I updated the electrical, painted everything, and “cleaned the property up nicely” exterior and interior.

You should treat it as a luxury package rather than regular STR. 

.- It may take longer to find a tenant buyer compared to a regular renter.Let me know if I have missed something.  

I didn't even have $1000 saved at that time and I was really just thinking of going the regular route of going through the banks and just save up as much as I could for a down payment on my first investment home to rent out.

We agreed but only after they covered cleaning costs and left the property in move-in-ready condition.

Keep the property clean, updated and rented to good tenants.

Take a look at Personal Property versus Real property coverage, plus clean up costs to make sure your covered.I would also look at covering your project from the Subcontractors. 

The timeline is years for clean up and decades for reconstruction and recovery.

It usually takes a quarter of the time to manage a lease option property versus a regular rental.