My play has always been student rentals around ASU for extremely low vacancy and value appreciation.Vacation rentals are another hot investment product, mostly in Scottsdale but there are opportunities in other cities as well.

I've found that, although it is ideal to issue 1099's to contractors, etc.

Things as simple as a front door, double pane glass, paint colors, type of paint etc all come into play.

That lets me keep precise accounting of them and understand how that plays out for each property.  

Short term as in under one year ideally, where I know I could repay the funds quickly.  

That was when Seller asked for the per diem, and when I challenged him, he started threatening me by saying things like, "You do not want to play with fire, or you'll get burned", and "Don't poke the bear".

Finally, as this is a pure investment property and not a house hack, lenders consider it a pure commercial play and all but one ask for 25% down and 5%+ rates...any thoughts on this?

You'd be playing Russian Roulette. 

The ideal cap rate is around 8.

It's also in an ideal location, safe building and highly desirable.