I understand that some folks like to play the game around getting a "Second home" mortgage versus an investment property rate, but I'd rather stay on the safe side liability/tax wise.7) If you had the opportunity to build a brand new house purpose built for STR, what are some of the features it would/should have?

A lot of forum members are experts in their respective fields related to real estate investing, whether that is real estate sales, wholesaling, flipping, buy and hold investing, lending, self-directed IRA and Solo 401k investing, or tax and legal guidance.There are some pretty nice discounts on many products and services offered as Perks to BP members that you might want to check out: https://www.biggerpockets.com/perks/proIf you haven’t been to it already, the Bigger Pockets blog features links to their fantastic podcast and many great articles: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/The site has quite a few tools that can be helpful for new members.

First, without being in the property, it's hard to understand the unique features of each property.Second, there's a liability issue. 

Current property taxes are roughly $1,000/yearCurrent owner pays $350/year for insurance.Current Tenant is paying for electric and sewer (House is on a well, so no water).We think the property will need $10,000 of work to be ready for a short term rental (Air cons, some drywall work, moving/updating the well, landscaping)Our ideal plan is to turn it into an outdoorsy airbnb with a nice backyard feature. 3+ bedrooms in the area go from 60-120/night with ~68% occupancy on airbnb.

I will not expound on all of the features but suggest that you look for yourself if this is your only option. 

The site already has excellent calculators from what I can see.If anyone has a "wish list" of features they'd want to help them run their real estate business, I'd be curious to hear about it. 

A lot of forum members are experts in their respective fields related to real estate investing, whether that is real estate sales, wholesaling, flipping, buy and hold investing, lending, self-directed IRA and Solo 401k investing, or tax and legal guidance.There are some pretty nice discounts on many products and services offered as Perks to BP members that you might want to check out: https://www.biggerpockets.com/perks/proIf you haven’t been to it already, the Bigger Pockets blog features links to their fantastic podcast and many great articles: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/The site has quite a few tools that can be helpful for new members.

Things that increase or decrease your rent are things that cause the utilities to go up or down, such as size, number of shared walls, utilities, appliances, type of heat, any energy efficiency features, etc.

But shop around for the ones with features you are looking for.

The search feature (while not the greatest) is helpful for finding previous posts on the topic which can provide insight and education.