The system is still charging me for PRO covered items.

I had been hoping to close on the house in mid July and race to get it up on the vacation rental sites ASAP to capture the tail end of the high season, but it looks like that's not going to happen.

If you capture additional equity at purchase it gives you more options:  you can sell immediately if you needed to, you get a bigger pay out when you sell, you can get a cash-out refi sooner because you do not have to wait for the market to rise, or you can hold from a stronger position because you should be able to find deals that get more than $200/ mo cash flow.  

If you study items such as the schools, job market, improving/declining areas, etc. you will improve your chance of success.

Other items that will greatly change your quote is the zip code you are buying in.

Yes, as long as they are itemized as separate jobs, not merely 3 installment payments of the one lump-sum invoice.

I cannot stress the importance of getting comfortable with those items before you invest.  

You will get about 3 bids for each item involved. 

BUT what we do is if its vacant we post the door with 2 weeks to 30 days notice depending on if there are items in the house and we change the locks.

New item for your list.