In answer to your questions:
1. Vantage is not currently multi regional capable in the way you describe, so whilst you could easily create categories for each state, and then add the type of business as subcategories, this will of course leave you with a lot of categories overall. The easier option is to just create the categories and select the location as you can see on the
Vantage demo site. Outside of this, you could look at a
WordPress multisite setup, giving each location its own subdomain, but you'd be looking at additional customization to get it all working together.
2. No, we do not offer free or trial versions of our themes.
3. If you purchase a theme now, you will receive updates at no additional cost for the duration of your subscription period. Upgrades are relatively straightforward, however if you are making a lot of customizations to the default theme we would recommend the use of a child theme so you don't lose all of your changes in the process of an upgrade. You can read more about this
here.
4. The only promotions we have available at this time are those related to
WordPress Hosting and
AppThemes translations. Thanks.