See responses to your questions below: Correct, California is uniqueTo qualify for REPS you need to meet a number of criteria, including (but STRs that meet IRS criteria generally don't need REPS to leverage tax benefits): More than 50 percent of his/her time working in real property businesses; AND, More than 750 hours of service during the year.

It will cost a lot to redo do all the services.  

The courts will handle service via e-mail and delivery to the unit.

They paired me up with a member service advisor for 60 days, who checks in on you once a week and helps find content for you and keeps you accountable.

This means you need to pad your rehab costs, make sure you have trusted service providers that do great work, and when you run comps be sure to bring them down a bit and see if the deal still makes sense. 

First all, thank you for your service and kudos for making that sacrifice to househack it's definitely paid off!  

When a rental is taken out of service for personal use the accumulated depreciation goes away over a short period of time. 

Make sure to verify any information from a party that doesn't have any advantage of you getting their services before making a decision.  

Welcome and thanks for your service!!

It may be more worthwhile to find someone who has reasonable fees for their service as my two cents.I hope this helps in some way!