I want to preface this by saying I'm an absolute newbie when it comes to real estate investing, but the more books and resources I consume, the more I find myself gravitating towards commercial real estate, specifically hotels!

I'm new to real estate investing and looking to connect with local investor.Thank youWhat are specific goals? 

My state has a specific law about "contractor fraud".

Any luck on motivating realtors in the area to actually get operating expenses/lease agreements for Jackson County specifically George?

And my #1 issue is I don't see any actions to address this in a meaningful, market specific manner. 

Beverly can you be more specific on what kind of messages does it send the tenants?

Your specific variable expense assumptions are wrong, BUT you stumbled into them being correct overall.Also, you are approaching this correctly - entering in the numbers to generate a purchase price that meets your metrics:)

Happy to connect if you have any specific questions you are looking to get answered or just want a general run down of the investing landscape here.

I would think that a property manager would be able to assess your specific unit, be able to determine what market rate is for the local area and the quality of the unit, what the market rate rate is for your specific unit, to suggest what your unit could rent for based on some improvements and have a sense of what rent increase would be tolerable by the tenants. 

Once they exercise seller financing, the property is sold and all 1031 rules apply. 1031 has specific timelines.