I'm not sure about the laws in your state, but in CA, if it is established that you knowingly did not enforce certain aspects of your lease, they become null. 

That feeling of selling a product that you may or may not feel 100 percent about i feel comes with a lot of the aspects in REI, I think you deff should not invest big money ie.

This should give me some time to get to know the ins and outs of Tahoe's common booking dates so I can strategize for next year. 

There are a lot of different aspects you can bring to a partnership other than money. 15k might be the perfect amount of cash if you were able to contribute by being boots on the ground, meeting with contractors, property managers...As for going at it on your own, I don't know the price of things there but you probably could do some house hacking with that much cash.

Not suggesting this will be the outcome in every instance, but concur with others that you may want to consider holding if the other aspects / fundamentals of your market remain attractive.

The smartest, most strategic and most effective way to grow your business is to get out from under it—in other words, to not do everything on your own.

What exact aspect of this type of transaction are you looking for?  

Insurance is one of the most important aspects of starting up a short-term rental, and it's one of the most overlooked issues.In my experience, it's almost a sure bet that your normal insurance carrier will NOT cover you for any claim arising out of an Airbnb-style short-term rental.

As you stated, there are many aspects that can impact an approval, and the info on your credit report is a critical part of that.

@Jim Stevenson - Since you're posting the question on BP, I assume you are an investor in some aspect of RE.