I am going to rent the house for two years...this is apparently a good amount of IRS “seasoning”.I am then going to gift the home to my son and his wife.

The easiest way to not get scammed is use a larger commercial lender.

It was suggested to us that I give my portion of the down payment as a gift to my brother and that he wires the full amount into the escrow account, however, when I was researching online I noticed that there's a $15kcap for tax-free gifts and also IRS.gov website says:What is considered a gift?

Easiest way is to overcome this is switch the loan type.

You give up a % of commission, but it's the easiest from your end (broker who you refer the seller to does all the work) :DAlternatively, if your seller wants to work with you specifically you can always find a local brokerage up here that can do a co-listing agreement.

Then tell them you appreciate their patience and would like to compensate them for a couple nights in the hotel or a gift card for a couple hundred dollars.

That's the easiest way to vet.And I have to disagree with the "the deal will bring the buyers".

Driving straight to the unit and having the code to a Smart lock on the door is the absolute nicest and easiest check in. 

It is the easiest way to get into REI @Matthew Humphrey

Cash is easiest, you can close quickly and be very competitive in a hot market.