Court seemed to think that "design" related efforts involved no true experimentation or risk factors and thus disallowed the credit indicating that a mere novel design was not sufficient to claim the benefit.

Check the toilet tank and see if there is orange slime, that would be iron bacteria an an indication the iron filter is not working.  

@David Kerner also...you can ask the bank to tie your future interest rate to a current indicator like the us treasury...that was a common practice for us and it would at least give the borrower the ability to track their future rate...

As previously indicated Cost Segregation is appropriate in certain situations, but certainly not all.

Maybe a better question is should I be aggressively increasing my contribution to max out my 401k contribution to the $19,500 limit which I am currently at about half that; and after that, with all the poor economic indicators and the disconnection of the stock market to the economy and high unemployment, when is it wise to take a cash position and how much?

Odor of feces throughout, but not a smell like sewage that indicates an issue with the property itself. 

By taking reservations for a property you do not intend to fulfill indicates you are not prepared for the STR hosting business. 

Our agent and seller showed us the tax and field card that indicated it was a three family home.

A Cap Rate is generally used as just another indicator of market sentiment on a particular property's income stream.

I've been given price indications of $250 to $400 / sq ft for 1200 sq ft ADU - West Los Angeles