Does anyone here have experience using a property management service to run their Airbnb business and if so what does that actually entail? 

I am wanting to do it myself so I can learn (so when I am ready to get a PM company, I have a sense of that the job entails).

So as an amateur (and I'm really an amateur) I'd assert you went down the "here's a lot of bad data" as opposed to "here's 2 comps that are extremely on point that show substantially different values".Again, I'm not an appraiser, so feel free to see my thoughts as "invalid" as well :-)

Full plumbing..what is that entail..are you on slab, crawl or basement.

That said, before hiring a PM, I think it's important to learn what the job entails so you can choose if you'd like to self-manage or not (or have co-hosts or some other hybrid model). 

I'm super curious what you found - everything I saw was co-ops or similar.NU grad students also have reliable income - the university asserts it funds all PhD students for 5 years, including a housing budget that students can take to whomever they wish.

I'm not sure what the property eval will entail from the contractor but you could always just get one from a home inspector, pay less, and sub out the work rather than paying a retainer and an hourly fee for the same.

In my experience, your field and job is so demanding you won't have much time to take on a more hands on project like a house flip would entail.

@Tyler Bobo In addition to discussing the legal structure options with an attorney as @Brian Burke and @Todd Dexheimer suggested, you'd also want to run it by a CPA that is well versed in real estate syndications as the tax implications for debt vs equity will differ significantly for GPs and LPs, which entails that the overall bottom line will be impacted.

These gains can be offset by Section 1231 losses, resulting in a net Section 1231 gain or loss.Your CPA's assertion that the Section 1231 gain from the syndicate cannot be offset against passive losses might be based on the classification of the gain.