Had one location we looked at, a person was managing but no payroll was reflected on the P/L. 

If they've been there 10 years, you have a good idea of how well they take care of the place as what you saw when you viewed it would reflect that.For state laws-google it and you will find a government website with the info.  

In any location where that’s possible, it’s quickly reflected in the market price of properties there.if I had a secret that allowed my STRs to get cash flows that others couldn’t replicate with a similar nearby property, I’d definitely be keeping that to myself 😀

Of course, if you compare with your home city of New York, it's another story but that doesn't seem to be fair.If you look at the GDP per capita, it's indeed significantly lower than in the US but that's reflected in the property prices.

I take it as just a reflection of where I see society in general going more than anything.

However, buying a safe bootlegged unit at the price that reflects unpermitted work could be tempting.  

An insurance agency could charge a fee as well but they'd have to show that too.If everything is the same on the policy (can be hard to tell with a cursory look at a quote) it's possible some of the internal risk information was changed a (such as year of update) and the underwriter changed pricing to reflect that.It's also possible one agency asked for pricing credits to get as close to a certain number (perhaps a number you told them based on the current policy) and the other agency was unaware of that number so they didn't ask for credits.That would be the most likely in most cases but it's odd since the quote was already created and given to you from The Hartford that it would change so much.By the way, your agent should be able to retake control of the quote quite easily with a signed BOR/AOR as discussed. 

Realtor.com will reflect what properties are currently being listed for now.

Logically this makes sense too, revenues are starting to reflect 2019 rental numbers and cost to borrow is higher than 2019 as well. 

If you fail to make your monthly house payments to the bank on time, that reflects on the Seller’s credit.