Whatever financial value gained by staying in the house will be severely outweighed by the chaos it is likely to create in you and your children's lives.

I think my burning desire to finally acquire a property was outweighing the numbers and it was also minimizing the risk (betting on appreciation) which is a risk that shouldn’t be minimized. 

In LA/OC you will get 5-10% appreciation year over year and that will greatly outweigh any cashflow you will get out of state.

All this can quickly outweigh any potential tax deferral benefits.4. 1031 Exchange is a tax deferral, so it's not as simple as saying you don't have to pay $X in taxes. 

We all know that there are multiple reasons to own property so if the positives outweigh the negatives and your risk in the deal is low... why not?

The overwhelming recommendation from forums and books has been to use a Realtor because the value much outweighs the cost.

We've tossed around a lease option but would need the property tax savings to outweigh the depreciation. 

Long-term holds outweigh short-term gains in my opinion.

For them, the benefits of living off campus far outweigh the benefits of living in student housing. 

Unfortunately, that's actually as close as the wrong lawsuit happy person stepping in a hole on your property and twisting their ankle- but an LLC would offer your personal assets {and other investments} safe)If it's just yourself taxes are not so complicated with a SMLLC (single member LLC) so that shouldn't be a huge reason not to use one as the protection benefits offset/outweigh the small steps during tax time.