We advertised it as a "bonus room/ office" and I think that helped attract the right applicants (they were not expecting a 3 bedroom apartment and then arriving to find out it was only 2 beds with an awkward bonus room).  

Equity is a bonus.

You don't have to worry about damage to the equipment or it being stolen.But if you do decide to buy the equipment, there is a good chance that it will be eligible for bonus depreciation and potentially 179 expense depending on your net income.

The downstairs tenant also has another floor available, bonus room in the finished basement, which might help with noise between tenants as well.

Great breakdown of Bonus depreciation for RE.

Is it possible to take advantage of the bonus depreciation if buying multiple STR properties with a business partner?

Thankfully the buyer also had another site that required fill so that was a bonus.

I would recommend negotiating performance-based bonuses rather than commissions, ensuring that their focus aligns with your revenue strategy.Given that you are looking to expand your property with an in-house store and unique theme, a property manager focused on tailored guest experiences rather than just bookings would be more beneficial.

Bonus* Time & Money: Investments are borrowed time.

An institutional investor with a history of working with syndications in these kinds of deals is going to have a much better handle on fair and realistic fees the syndicator should be collecting for those services versus a bunch of lps that may be working on the first syndication deal and frankly glosses right over those issues when they see 15% annual returns and a nice fat cash bonus on the planned exit.