As our portfolio grew, we were intentional about keeping our profile personal rather than corporate.

Take BP for instance - your profile is brand new and it's not filled out so you may get some ok answers here, but not the best because people don't really know who they are talking to other than it sounds like you are trying to do your first syndication.

You may be able to factor in certain improvements to your personal residence so when you do move out, you can be eligible to depreciate it.

Look at how long the person has been on BiggerPockets and consider their profile.

Hey Dave, since I have mortgages on these properties, would it make sense to bring cash to the exchange to cover the mortgage amount (or pay off the mortgage before doing the 1031) and improve the cash flow for the newly acquired property?

Brody:Hello from a fellow Michigander.Prior posts and your profile indicate you are new to RE investing. 

Learning from this data, negative MoM real estate private investment occurred for FOUR QUARTERS dating from Q3 2008 , it's all negative until Q4 2009.In this 2022/2023 downturn cycle, we started the negative performance on CRE on the 4th quarter, so if cycle repeats the same, at very least we have to wait for another two quarter data to see the improvement if any.Learning from 2008 experience, the CRE is stabilizing only *after* Fed reduced the FFR, I dont think it's a coincidence that bond market started expecting Fed to decrease rate by April 2024 next year.

I am not going to do any improvements to the land, just improvements on paper etc.

There's nothing left to cover expenses so you better have deep pockets to cover maintenance, admin, turns, etc.If you think you can quickly improve rents to a point that covers your expenses and pads your pocket a bit, then maybe, IF it hits your return threshold.If you're buying cash, then the mortgage is not a factor. 

The IRS has said, since 2017, that the improvement ratio or $ value is what your taxes are assessed as, unless you have a really compelling reason to use a different value.