My aunt wasn't Married or didn't have children, and both of her parents have passed has well.

How will you differentiate yourself from the people twice your age that have bought/sold their own homes many times, know what it's like to be a functional member of a community, raised children, owned businesses, worked a 30-year career in corporate America, lived through the housing crisis of 2008, and earned more than a few battle scars in life?

There are too many variables in each situation to say whether your tax professional did everything he or she could to reduce your taxable income through depreciation, improvement write offs and governmental administration changes, but you are asking the right question.My wife was an accountant before leaving the professional world to focus on our rental business and our children.

The cousins are not children of the aunts, so I don't know if there will be any issue there. 

So here, I had a family with 2 small children and no hot water for 2 days. 

As a buyer, you may only want the home until children are out of school or you are finished with a certain phase of your career.

I am single and have no children so I figured I’d rent for a couple of years, save money, and buy again in a couple of years for a primary residence.

For example: if a parent wants to gift the post capital gains proceeds from a family cabin to 2 children ...Short of death, does the gift tax exclusion apply here ?

I'm 32, married with three children (7, 5, 1), and currently am an automotive/industrial painter.

Granted, that's the nature of my occupation as a handyman, but still, it would take a LOT to get me away from her if I were still teaching, for instance.So if on top of that he's burning his income on a nice place for hisself instead of something small and tight and cheap so more money goes home to his wife and/or children, that would be a red flag for me.