It's very common to have a credit card used during a free-trial sign up.

Part of the sign up is they make you type a long sentence that says you will answer the phone when they call. 

Any insight on whether the ROI would be worth it or other considerations I am missing would be much appreciated.I have a similar looking 3rd floor space that I just finished making into an office/bonus room.

Once you have a shortlist, sign up for an account with each one and test them extensively to see how they function.

The house will stay in my father's name for now, so we want most of the repairs to be paid by him for depreciation purposes (he will be doing cost segregation and taking bonus depreciation later this year).

Appreciation is "bonus".

You don’t get the same benefits as newer STR as your purchase date was before 100% bonus depreciation.

You can just send a fax from your phone.I found the cheapest price for a dedicated fax number to send AND receive faxes at $60 per year at ToucanFax.com - if you only send a few faxes a year (and don't need to receive), just sign up for a month at $5 and then cancel before the month is over!

Bonus depreciation doesn’t count against your income calculation.

It creates shopping lists and little bonuses like that so it has a few more things than the spreadsheet that comes with your Flipping/Estimating books.