I can't answer many of these, but:
3) Anything I should watch out for? Waste of money? I'm not buying a kinect.
You pretty much got it. Just don't buy a Kinect. Otherwise see if you really need the Elite version or not. Odds are, if you think like me about it, it probably isn't worth the cost increase over a standard XBone unit.
4) 500GB or 1TB? I do plan on doing mostly digital so I'm leaning 1TB but how easy is it to change out the hdd?
Go 1TB. Changing out the HDD on the Xbox One basically requires taking the whole system apart. It is nothing like the PS4 where the HDD bay is easily accessible, and HDD swaps encouraged for those that need more space. You can always use external HDDs for more storage, though it isn't the ideal solution for many.
