Your requirements to defer all tax are to purchase at least as much as your net sale. 

In addition due to prop 13, the tax base is a fraction of if it sold today.   

Hi Mary, I'm a local investor. 

If you are setting aside funds for capex, taxes, insurance, or other expenses that don't occur monthly, transfer those funds to Savings each month and hold them there until it's time to spend them.

That alone can kill a deal due to over the Max DTI limit.A cash out refinance is tax free and its an immediate liquid reserve so it can be used as an Asset or PITI reserves.

Take the tax free sec 121 first and then 1031 the leftover.

Syndication investing is awesome, it has given me sp500 beating returns for 30 years, fantastic tax benefits, great geographical diversification, a wealth of knowledge about this country and the economy in ways that a nerdy science type guy like me would never have known about.

In US tax law, the depreciable lifespan of an asset is defined by its MACRS classification which stands for “Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System.”Under MACRS, depreciable assets are assigned to different classes, with each class having a specific recovery period.

In order to defer all tax you must purchase at least as much as your net sale ($500K ish). 

A 1031 exchange would use all of the tax in the purchase of your next property.