This was actually not the case and on a 300k construction budget you can imagine how many headaches, loss of time, and money this caused.

I can only imagine what his finances are like at the moment. 

I can't imagine buying a house, even a $50K one somewhere in the country, sight unseen.

I'd imagine polititions making new regulations and incentives for housing starts putting a wrench in the next 10-15 years being as good or better than the last theory.

We just need to be sure the dogs can't rip out the chicken wire which may cause us to upgrade to a stronger mesh.Chicken wire won't keep raccoons out of chicken coops, so I can't imagine that it would be a good option for dogs.

I imagine a lawyer is part of it but I also likely need a new PM and what even is the course of action to get keys/info/etc from the existing (unresponsive) PM? 

Then you can keep that money “tax free”.Imagine if you bought a property for $500k in cash.

1031 is for a business or rental, hard to imagine how raw land fits...

I imagine its a lot of work and not something you can just do quickly or easily - especially in New York. 

It's not as easy as you're imagining.