The one you need to be careful for is electricity, this is where a lot of abuse and excess cost can occur. 

After being grandfathered in, terrible neighbors, whom we contacted before closing letting them know we would be operating STR, came out of the wood work to petition the city to deny our permit. 

If possible I would like to stay away from renting  and preferably would like to purchase a single family house or multi family while I am currently still in Japan and while I am employed unfortunately the VA denied my request, is there any guidance on that or am I stuck on renting and waiting for employment once I return? 

One thing I don't understand is why you'd need to replace the kitchen tile, are there signs of abuse?

There is a lot of controversy around Airbnb these days but despite how you feel about the service, there’s no denying the massive impact it has made on the travel industry.It is, no doubt, very far from its humble beginnings as a simple room, couch, and apartment share, but that growth is as much due to the hunger for different accommodations as it is to a well-executed silicon valley start-up.The Airbnb host can make all the difference in a stay.

This is the simplest method, but it also means your tenants are more likely to abuse the utilities by leaving windows open with the heat or A/C running, leaving lights on, ignoring the toilet that constantly flushes on its own, etc.3.

Amerisave had me almost entirely through the process the day the other bank denied us (which is a whole other story.

You likely could have denied it.

This is the simplest method, but it also means your tenants are more likely to abuse the utilities by leaving windows open with the heat or A/C running, leaving lights on, ignoring the toilet that constantly flushes on its own, etc.3.

This will either confirm or deny your assumption.