Reason I ask is there are going to be a lot of real estate ventures where ALL money is lost, and many are due to poor management or buying a deal they should not buy.

I purchased my first buy and hold SF rental property last year and turned the property into a student rental as it was very close to a local College.

First thing is to decide if you want to flip or buy/hold.

I am interested in buying a long-term turnkey property in a nice area (I live in San Diego so this property would have to be out of state).

Interest on a loan used to buy or improve a rental property is ALWAYS deductible against that rental property.

If you sell for a net sales price of $1 mil and buy for a net purchase price of $700K you will owe tax on the difference of $300K.BP may have a capital gains calculator you can use.  

As others have stated, your fit & finish goals should be guided by whether you plan to:1) Rent: tenants don't always take care of a property, so you want to use lower-grade materials and workmanship.2) Flip: higher quality on workmanship and materials is usually required.Regardless, you always want to "Maintain to the Neighborhood".

I do know one of the people who works for me has a 2 year work permit (temporary) and she and her husband were able to buy a place in Alberta.BC and ON are very tenant friendly.

Say they sold the properties over 3 year period and could not sell the rentals together as a portfolio.Could they put the money from each sale into a DST then use the total to buy a expensive rental property?

The secret is deploying an unfair advantage and/or buying good assets + time.