Meeting the test criteria, which includes working over 500 hours in the business, overseeing all necessary tasks personally, or substantially participating alongside a partner, facilitates the strategic utilization of the short-term rental tax loophole.

I know we'll be in competition with other investors so we are waiving all contingencies except we want to test the septic since it could be a huge expense.

Material participation (there are 7 tests you can use). 

If I had received the property couple of weeks earlier, I was planning to self manager to qualify for  "100 hours material participation test" OR  "substantially all participation in the activity" test.

I put her and the kids to the test.

A true test of a company is not when everything goes right, but when things don't go 100% according to plan & how they handled it.

I would take that same list and do a third test to compare.

The tests cost about $200 each, licensing per state anywhere from $200-400 a year The test is about the laws and history it does not teach you anything much about the job.

With a "facts and circumstances" test This article can. help: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p523#:~:text=If%20you%20own%20and%20live,factors%20are%20relevant%20as%20well.Please discuss this with your accountant, as your facts and circumstances will matter greatly here! 

Namely, you must be able to show that all of the following are true:you are married and file a joint return for the yeareither you or your spouse meets the ownership testboth you and your spouse meet the use test, andduring the 2-year period ending on the date of the sale, neither you or your spouse excluded gain from the sale of another home.If either spouse does not satisfy all these requirements, the exclusion is figured separately for each spouse as if they were not married.