You don't give much detail about the situation other than that you have an offer.

Additionally, does anyone have strategies or advice on how to confirm that the reported rent is actually being collected as stated?

Heather I cannot say what it would cost as I am unsure of your property details and Tampa market although in FL is a different submarket, but to give you an idea I have a 3k sqft house a half mile from the intracoastal valued at about $1.1M and I was paying almost $8k for STR compliant Hazard with wind. 

I've then needed to rely on additional debt to get me through to stabilizing the property on the back end, pulling out the money via refinance, and paying everything off.

That's a great summary of lessons learned @Adam Harrison.Every real success story I know of involved years of struggle and a bit of monotony until the details got ironed out (and honestly, I don't think anyone ever achieves perfection... even if that's what they'd like to project).

Additionally, expanding your search beyond Fairfax to nearby areas with more affordable options could enhance your chances of finding better cash flow potential.

You may want to consult with a real estate professional or an attorney to get additional information.

Use leverage to purchase rentals (I don’t know how the details of this would work?

The part I’m stuck on is finding cash buyers to buy the contracts and how to even sell the contracts I have a good understanding of how it works but it’s not really explained in detail maybe I’m just over thinking it as well thanks in advance for any help

More details are needed in order to determine how much the value of the property would increase, but from a cash flow stand point, this is a good one.