Nobody eats for free!

There are several types of fall back positions that you can use in a pinch as well including - pocket listings, fractional 1031 compliant properties, and also the option of simply not completing the 1031 and eating the tax. 

Then he counts how many takeout meals he eats.

Condos are rarely good investments anyway; the HOA fees eat most of the profits. 

I was eating pb@j sandwiches everyday because in my mind I couldn’t dare do laminate I had to have granite, god for bid a tile was laid slightly crooked, I’d rip it all up.

It will eat into your cash flow and if you are not careful, you will buy a property that you will lose money one each month.Around here, It is hard to find a property to cash flow for more than $50 to $100 a month per door after figuring in all the current and future expenses, but as long as the property cash flows and is in a decent area, then I am happy to pick it up.

I would relocate there and buy it just to be closer to Magnolias so I could eat there every night. 

That said, if you have good tenants already, eating $20 a month is not a big deal.

Or are you eating that cost?

Over the course of 1 year. that $70 a week on food and coffee at work adds up to $3640 per year... or, in leveraged terms , 20,800 - $41,600 worth of real estate (if using 80-90% leverage)Of course, one has to eat.