Convert vacation home to rental property

[Ana Brasher]

We enjoyed our lake house for many years, but it has been very idle for the last 2 years.  We would like to convert to a rental home and qualify for a 1031 exchange and invest in a rental property in Colorado.  We know some people that are looking for rental (1-2 months) while they are finishing up their home re-modeling.  How do we demonstrate (for taxes) the rental of our home?  

[Marc Winter]

Quote from @Ana Brasher:

Yes, we will sell the lake house property in a few years.  We just want to convert it to a rental now so it can qualify for a 1031 exchange at that time.  How do we demonstrate that it is a rental property?  A listing on AirBnB?  Receipts from rentals?  Thanks!

Tax returns should do that trick.