Someone that has to ask the question will typically be best served by having an agent represent them and hold their hand.  

When I asked VRBO's representative, they said it must be from our direct booking website and that they charge 10% for any offline booking.

Asset protection in case one of us getting sued (I think it was a BP podcast episode where a lawyer told the story about the son hitting someone with the car and the family of the kid that got hurt suing them and them having to surrender their house.)

This reserve amount represents roughly 2–3 years of projected repair costs, which might be a conservative approach, but it gives us a buffer for unexpected, high cost repairs when they pop up.With a larger portfolio, the reserve pool wouldn’t need to grow proportionally, as funds and repairs can be balanced across properties, allowing costs to offset each other over time.

Just as all doctors or lawyers are not all the same, so with architects.

Maybe the GP (who is very active posting on BP as an "expert" looking for suckers) has good enough lawyers to threaten BP into deleting the original thread?

Eviction and foreclosure are two common real estate processes where you always want to use a lawyer from beginning to end.

The example that comes to mind are often are of folks that operated a dental practice, an accounting office, a bankruptcy lawyer and her staff that did quite well in the 2008 aftermath, and so on, during those first few years, taking up a portion of or all of the space.Once you realize what a dumpster fire it is finding good financing for offices, if you need it, I'll be available. 

After a few days of not replying back, I asked for an update, which is when their legal representative, Joan, stated that in the contract all payments are final.

Typically, HUD charges a daily fee for extensions, which varies depending on the property type and the number of extensions requested.To request an extension, contact your HUD representative or the Asset Manager handling the sale.