The easiest part of the project to put off until the end is probably a kitchen refresh, appliances, furniture, and other such items which will go onto a 5/7/15 year schedule if I can defer them until after the property is listed and put in service.  

You can't shop around for furniture, you have to buy things sight unseen and have them delivered and hope they are good quality.

Yes, the ones that have bad furniture, bad pictures, and don't communicate will sit vacant, because they aren't putting in the effort, and also they may not be in a solid location for the MTR space.As for your questions, we are currently in a weird time, between being the dead of winter, right around the holidays, and in a recession (or at least in the loom of a recession) it is too early to tell what will happen to these spaces.

I'm considering Airbnb-ing it, because I don't need any of the furniture in the home and mostly everything is new.   

If the patio furniture is yours put it in the garage.

The meta data captured from the devices would pay for their investment plus more.I just hope they don’t stage the homes with unreliable Amazon furniture made by company with a name taken from a cat thrown on the keyboard (fburgjekdbhdv furnishings).

After removing all the fire damaged material, including the furniture which filled the house; the place still smelled like smoke. 

And, an additional fee if it’s a blank slate, needs furniture set up, dishes, towels, etc.

This was a new ceiling fan, paint, and some furniture from Wayfair/FB Marketplace. 

If it's just updating furniture/decor that is quick and easy and you'll be up and running for 15 or 20k for a 4BR.