I wouldn't even waste money on it. my friend has had astroblaster since it started early 23' and in the hole with no success yet.

You can simply request a separate check for the $100 increase to bring the total deposit in line with the new rent amount.

Far more costly to transfer property at a later point than simply purchase in an LLC on day one.

The best defense against rats entering your property is to seal off all entry points (holes, cracks in walls), remove food sources (dirty dishes, food left in trash cans), and water sources (like leaks). 

What other costs are actually there that aren't coming up in my search that don't exist when simply filing for exemption?

This will simply causes prices to be even higher, and continue to constrict demand... 

The competition is fierce, so simply rearranging photos, swapping some in and out tells the algorithm that you're an "active" host and you'll be more visible on the platforms. 

Maybe no one is an idiot, maybe they are simply being responsive to incentives.

They simply did not desire to spend more time than it was worth to recover the money from Airbnb.

Denver is very expensive for a new guy who doesn't have loads of capital so a market like Missouri for example is intriguing for far cheaper real estate but then Id either have to move, improve the property remotely or simply buy and hold as a rental for X time.