Yea I get this question every day.

How are you paying for everyday items without a consistent income?

I work with him and do real estate consulting work with some of his clients so that he covers his basis.

You can take advantage of bonus depreciation and accelerated depreciation deductions to offset your passive income.With the 1031, you might have excess basis which is eligible for bonus depreciation. 

On a practical basis, I've never heard of a lender doing drive bys after the close of escrow to make sure you are still there.

Your basis will be what you pay them for it.

Take a look at BP's blog where new articles are published every day: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog4.

They are citing 718.116(1)(a) as the basis for them being about to collect from me, the new owner, specifically: "as the new owner of the property, you are jointly and severally liable for the amounts owed by the previous owner under Florida Statutes 718.116(1)(a).

@Brandon Bruckman, I heard back from my CPA and she confirmed that I can pull up to my basis out of the REIT by selling REIT shares/units without incurring any capital gains taxes since it is considered a return of capital (ROC). 

@Noah Harms - if you don't know, Dave is the host of our BiggerPockets Real Estate podcast and also the head of RE investing here at BP so this guy is in the data every day and really knows what he is talking about.