I am confused on how to think about my potential tax liability and I've had different opinions from professionals. 

Only agents (and maybe loan officers) have an actual understanding of the enormous differences in the skill levels of agents in the industry.

We got an analysis from 2 different companies and savings wise it makes sense.

@Cosmas Paulosi we've posted this hundreds of times, because it's very logical:)Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.So, when investing in areas they don’t really know, investors should research the different property Class submarkets.

Have read similar issues among all different investors.

Cost seg studies have many different price points, depending on the complexity of the property but I would budget a few thousand dollars for a property the size.Regarding material participation, you should check with your CPA or tax advisor but generally speaking yes that would be enough time.

Online, you're going to get 300 different opinions, and the IRS won't accept "someone on BP told me I could do this".  

But that's a different subject.

Everybody is different. 

However, there are actually been some court cases surrounding this topic with a slightly different application.