Be prepared for a time commitment.IRS Scrutiny and Audits: Brace yourself; the IRS might start paying more attention to you.

You don't want to make a big mistake and have to unwind it years later or worse face an audit.

- assuming 500hrs each, we have spent enough time this year to get to that but wondering if thats a red flag for IRS with high chance of getting audited (we travelled 7 times over the past year to work on the unit and spend at least a week each time excluding the time we spent managing the guests)- Lastly, our understanding is that each can take 50% of the final offset to our W2 assuming we prove material participation eligibility. 

Quote from @Michael Plaks: Quote from @Kory Reynolds: For my clients real estate businesses they pay between $4,000 and $650k purely for tax prep and tax consulting, Tell'm I can do it for $645k  ;) Do you want the audit work too?

Three are audits I dealing with right not that the IRS is saying hours before renting out do not count.

Also no insurance.Finally, the IRS Audit likelihood for a 1040 with 6 Schedule E properties is about 10 times as likely as a 1065 (with your spouse) or an S-Corp.Then you can get a single K-1 and do your own tax with Turbo Tax.

The other thing is switching schedules on a property is a good way to get flagged for an audit.

He's impartial and is a great resource for all real estate investors and service providers - and it's fair to say he can be the same for you. 

Our firm is primarily made up of EA's (enrolled agents) who specialize exclusively in the study of tax law and representation (basically if you get audited they can defend you in tax court).

I pay a little extra for audit defense in case I’m ever audited.