If I'm doing de minimis, it doesn't really matter if the IRS for some reason thinks the area rugs should last 5 years and not 3 in a furnished rental.I want to do everything de minimis not even because I can take the deduction now but also because it's just that much less to track, year over year.

I think there is a decent market to cater to professions like yours with furnished short term rentals (several months at a time).

They furnish it, we run it, and we split profits. $1,500-$1,900 to each side.Why would we do that (earn way more when we invest by ourselves)? 

@Vincent Chen I’ll be all in after furnishing at $500k. 4 bed/3 bath plus loft and game room 2150sf with a view. 

When you buy a fixer-upper, renovate it, furnish it, and set it up as an STR, then manage it yourself, your return on investment will certainly be a lot higher than somebody who buys a turn-key property and hires a PM to run it.

They will be buying nice furnishings, they will clean it after every guest, they will make sure the sink isn't clogged, they the rugs don't get torn, they fix everything bad immediately. 

If the property is in an area near a hospital/military base/refinery/university/etc...you could furnish some units really nice and list them on furnishedfinder.com and do medium term rentals. 

the place is vacant but fully furnished and also on the market, so I guess I'm kind of clueless about what actually happens once it's mine. like, is all the furnishings and appliances Etc become mine?

I would only do it for furnished rentals, where it's expected.

@Deirdre Cullen this isn't answering your question but do you need to furnish it?