1. Commissions and execution are still important, but Anchor trades are very low commissions strategy, so it's less critical than SO strategy.
2. The following table is copied from Leveraged Anchor Implementation which was in the list I linked to. In live trading, it actually outperformed expectations, but of course there is no guarantee it will continue, so this is just an approximate estimate.
3. The model portfolio is 100k. You can do it with 50-60k, but it will be less gradual in terms of exact leverage. 140k is more appropriate if you want to implement more indexes like QQQ, IWM and EFA.
4. It's obviously better to start when VIX is in the mid teens because options you buy are less expensive. The risk to start now is that you pay more for the hedge, but then IV goes down quickly and you don't get enough premium from the sold puts to pay for the hedge. In this case the strategy will probably underperform if there is a strong rally. But you are still protected. Personally this is a risk I would be willing to take, but everyone is different.