If I cannot buy land and I am left with the 70k, I will have to pay what they call the boot, am I correct in thinking that I will have to pay  (let's say capital gain is 30%) capital gains on the 70k? 

plus I would have boots on the ground or you go to the park and actually count all the occupied homes, count all the seamingly vacant homes, and then add up the rent to see if that is what matches up with what the seller is saying to you. 

If you sell one property that was your primary residence and you either rented part of that one structure out or you moved out and then converted it to rental for a bit then you would simply sell the entirety and take the full 121 exemption as boot and then then 1031 the rest. 

I've heard good things about those markets for buy and hold...I've got some friends who are pilots at Davis-Monthan, so I now have an excuse to head down there and do some boots on the ground research. :)Are you looking at any specific parts of Tucson/Phoenix? 

You need boots in the ground locally to be your eyes first of all to determine what needs to be done. 

Im currently in the South Florida market and curious as to how you guys went about virtually wholesaling in a different market, specifically utilizing boots on the ground. 

You could certainly purchase 3.35 mil in replacement real estate but would pay tax on the boot difference between 4.8 and 3.35. 

You'd certainly need boots on the ground and a way to find the off-market deals.

Improvements made by the tenant may seem great, but in the end of the day you need to realize that your tenant is by default making a poor investment himself and stepping on your toes to boot.

Fellow newbie looking to invest with someone in Provo with boots on the ground.