In my area there are a good amount of condos for sale with an asking price around  55k. 

If he doesn't have one, it may be because of the size of his business, or the amount of loans he writes per year.

I being sued by tenant for security deposit but insane amount!

I think the challenge would be to find a deal that would be profitable (esp in the SoCal area) since I would start with a low amount of equity/larger mortgage payments and rents that don't quite cover all of the costs.

We also added a separate escrow amount for property taxes.  

What is a good amount of savings to have ?

A flat dollar amount or interest rate on the money he put in, or a percentage of the profit?

When using a 1031 exchange form, do you have to use the full cash amount you are getting from the sale transaction , or can you use just minimum required for the new purchase.

Developing the lots and selling them as an S-Corp will allow you to avoid some of the SE taxes as well.The amount you sell the land to the S-Corp will be the cost basis of the "inventory" (the lots).

,,that's out of YOUR pocket.Run the actual numbers:Total cost paid out of pocket in principle and interest during each year.Total cost out of pocket after payoff (assuming you are paying off early)Amount of cash saved each year offsetting the extra cash you spent during the 20 years.The questions I have are these:1 - When do you break even?