After securing the deal, the buyer made my wife and I go through three-feet deep of snow to "winterize" the house so there wouldn't be any plumbing issues.It was a 2 hour drive there, and a 2 hour drive back.So much time and effort put into it for only $4k...

Think of the various scenarios that could happen with someone hiding in a house deep within a residential neighborhood. 

Slow & steady wealth building is sustainable wealth building.

Generally it would be "capitalized", i.e. set up for slow depreciation which does not benefit you in a 1031 scenario.

After securing the deal, the buyer made my wife and I go through three-feet deep of snow to "winterize" the house so there wouldn't be any plumbing issues.It was a 2 hour drive there, and a 2 hour drive back.So much time and effort put into it for only $4k...

Although leasing activity is down 63% from pre-pandemic levels, the pace of new vacancies is slowing, reducing unoccupied space from 58 million to 44 million square feet over the past year.Multifamily PropertiesHigh mortgage rates have boosted demand for rental units, with net absorption up 90% year-over-year.

It’s a great way to keep the cash flow going when tourism slows down.

In late 2019, the economy was slowing, and inflation was at bay, so the Fed began cutting at a similar pace to what the market is expecting in late 2024.

I don't like the dirt road or the slow growth in the area this home is currently in. 

My experience with these auctions is they are normally slow and inefficient because the new owner had inflated price expectations.