I like analogies and and intelligent banter.

@Luis Capriles Benjamin Graham's "The Intelligent Investor" is an outstanding foundational book about stock market investing, with an emphasis on value investing.

At a minimum, you should try to do it yourself so you understand how it works and can talk intelligently when you are interviewing 3rd party companies.Good luck to you.

The three exemptions listed are  Any portion of the 5-year period ending on the date of the sale or exchange after the last date you (or your spouse) use the property as a main home;Any period (not to exceed an aggregate period of 10 years) during which you (or your spouse) are serving on qualified official extended duty: As a member of the uniformed services;As a member of the Foreign Service of the United States; orAs an employee of the intelligence community; andAny other period of temporary absence (not to exceed an aggregate period of 2 years) due to change of employment, health conditions, or such other unforeseen circumstances as may be specified by the IRS.I am trying to figure out if exemption 3 is applicable if you go over 2 years, and you would be trying to figure out how much of exemption 1 applies to your situation.  

This also means that the Home Sale Exclusion cannot be taken on more than one home at a time.There are a few exceptions to the use requirement for out-of-residence care, unforeseen circumstances, and uniformed, military, and intelligence service.

What happened in 2009 was a bit artificial due to the lending market.

thank you everyone for such wonderful and intelligent feedback.

Creating artificial cash flow by ignoring the value of equity is folly. 

Don't know if Scott Horne is a good teacher but if you spend a few more months studying the subject you'll be able to ask enough intelligent questions that you'll find out for yourself.

At 18 years old I hadn't yet developed the financial or creative intelligence to circumvent my road blocks.