Appreciation is icing on the cake not the goal .

Because there is no specific time limit on what constitutes a 'long-term investment' for the IRS, they use 'intent' as one of the ways to suss out whether you really did buy to hold and end up selling faster than anticipated (something that does happen, but not regularly) or are just trying to have your cake and eat it too by using the 1031 on a flip. 

And homes here sell like hot cakes. 

Best case scenario for underwriting needs to be icing on the cake and more conservative underwriting expecting things to go wrong and still pencils for a good deal needs to be the norm.You might could do a master lease option or option to buy upfront.

That wasn’t a piece of cake...had to go to a second bank.

It seems everyone treats it as icing on the cake, which is how I would treat it as well.

It is asking for your cake and eating it too. 

Also it's probably prudent for me to say that when it comes to rentals my evaluation of a good deal is all about net cash flow and I don't factor in equity at all, frankly unless I'm doing a flip; equity should be considered as just icing on the cake.

Appreciation is just the icing on the cake, for me.

The appreciation is the icing on the cake but the costs associated with selling the property would cut into your profit.