If the items had been left behind in their unit, then you would deal with it in accordance with the landlord-tenant laws for your jurisdiction.

For instance West Virginia has a reciprocal agreement with Virginia....but will refuse to issue a license to a Virginia licensee that lives outside Virginia, even though no law or regulation states that they can or will do that.

However remember many states have more restrictive laws than the federal law, so many states do not recognize the Mrs Murphy exemption.

There is an assumption born out in case law that "productive use in trade business or investment" implies a longer period of time. 

But that would be 2 years of strictly focusing on school.

I'm a local Realtor in Washington state and I want to get into wholesaling to build capital for my REI company, I'm new to investing, don't have a lot of funds and looking to start and grow, what are the laws regarding me wholesaling as a Realtor in Washington

According to my Title Attorney, under Louisiana Law I never stopped "owning the property".  

Is it a federal law (perhaps a federal code that I can look up)?

@Jerome Morelos Definitely look into your state laws...I know here in MA I am not allowed to charge tenants for water UNLESS it is sub-metered correctly.I am also required to provide heating no matter what during "heating season" even though the heaters are also separate for each unit.I would also suggest taking a look at other listings in your area to see what common practice is.Best of luck!

I would talk to your CPA about if you would qualify.Keep in mind though that the tax reform bill Congress is currently considering changes the timing requirements to 5 out of the past 8 years rather than 2 out of the past 5 years, so if that bill becomes law you may not qualify for the exclusion anyways.