6) Where is your property being advertised for rent?

Is this advertising?

A “30 minute phone consultation” is heavily advertised with their package offerings, but it was a struggle to get them to agree to a phone call once we were engaged.

The date you are able to take depreciation is when the property is ready for renting (i.e. advertising for rent or obtaining a certificate of occupancy).

We've never advertised.

A general rule of thumb though (not a hard rule) is that if a market has a prolonged history of vacation rentals such as towns whose commerce is very dependent on tourism like beach or mountain towns, then there is a good chance than those towns have established their airBNB regulations decades ago and are likely stable.

How do you advertise your vacant units?

I spent a decade in advertising, before founding and running a custom wood shop for another decade, so 'm pretty good at the self-promotion.I agree with you that the more gorilla approach would be most effective and that's actually what i've been doing – calling RE agents in my service area with active listings, introducing myself to property managers and leasing agents...To answer your question, I will have to handle the work myself for 6-12 months to build out the SOPs and field service management systems, but I have a lot of relationships for those looking to "do the work".I'll check out the meet up and would love to grab a cup of coffee, I'll shoot you an email.

Lots of gurus advertising how easy it is in order to sell a course or whatever else.

This is a big one  this disclosure must also be in all advertising of the wholesaler including SM.