Thanks @Brian White - the site is ripropinfo.com - and beside's Brian's excellent insights you'll also need to register with the RI Secretary of State, @Steve Porcello, as an out of state landlord.If you're serious about investing in RI I'd recommend joining or staying apprised of (and occasionally attending for relevant topics) RIREIG which usually meets the 3rd Thursday of each month (rireig.com).RI often takes inspiration from MA with various laws, but they are not exactly the same and it's important to know the differences, such as various landlord-tenant considerations, lead paint, fire coding, etc.

When I look at Airbnb there don't really seem to be many "dedicated Short Term Rentals", it moreso seems like homes that people just have up for rent occasionally. 

Generally speaking, these types of deductions are going to be added to depreciable basis, but they can occasionally be at least partially deductible, depending on what you've got going on.Consulting with a knowledgeable tax pro will get you a more definitive answer. 

I live in Ithaca, NY and I run into that problem occasionally with people looking to buy short term rentals.

Just reading books, blogs, forums, listening to the BP podcast, and attending the occasional local real estate meetup in my free time.

.- Landlording/owning the property is mostly smooth-sailing, but at occasional times can be aggravating, time-consuming, or stressful.If I sell this house, I would not immediately buy another property.

I had a few rentals that I owned with a partner (just sold) and do occasional mailings for cash purchases.

Several in the thread have pointed out that they didn't think the romex alone could be causing the problem, but my (admittedly uneducated) guess of what is happening is that the line has already degraded and is exposed to the earth, and occasional moisture which is causing the issues.I contacted the sellers construction manager today (he did some other work on our punch list and was an all around good guy), and waiting to hear back from them.

She said her boy friend came over 'occasionally'. 

But dang straight she was right there on closing day to pick up her commission check.So my point in all that (again I am not trying to say all brokers are idiots or anything like that) but just that sometimes the brokers can and will get offended by certain offers that you try to submit, but I feel it is not the brokers job to get involved in that part of the deal, they are hired to help the seller present his/her property in the best possible “light” so to speak in an effort to attempt to get the best possible price for the property and occasionally do a few necessities on the seller’s behalf (such as smoke cert., little things like that) and on the buyers side they are hired to find the properties that fit within the buyers parameters and help them arrange viewing and putting in offers (and occasionally they too will help with little things here and there like helping get HO ins., lining up the inspection, etc.).