if this was a rental property the gain on the property is whatever you sold it for minus your purchase price (broadly speaking)… there’re are various expenses you count against both your basis (purchase price)  and against your gain from the sale.  

With his involvement, it seems like Shreveport is gaining momentum and attracting new investments.1.

My main question is if these properties ended up cash flowing or gaining appreciation in the past few years? 

Over time of that LL making mistakes he is gaining much knowledge and hopefully it turns to wisdom and eventually he is helping others.  

Most Hard money lenders are going to require 20% of cost so if you have that plus reserves then that is by far the best bet.If this Is for real and they are not just trying to get a thousand bird dogs to pay them a 795 up front fee for their inspector they probably pay 100 bucks to drive out and look at and fund very few deals ( like many mortgage scams) .. then these can be pretty nice set ups for you to gain experience and build your resume'I would also hit Mark off line he is a very experienced licensed Broker in that area and one who knows the investor side of the coin

Here’s a simplified approach:Calculate Costs: Determine the net gain from selling each property after costs.

Make sure the numbers work and you wouldn’t be better of selling and taking the gain.

That said, if you can gain some basic knowledge and take away a few good nuggets from a course as a newbie, then it could be a good starting point (of course the best starting point is doing what you are doing here, engaging the BP community).

Recording affidavits and death certificates: $100 [ I gained the property by rights of survivorship and the past owner died but we need to update the title]My Questions:1.

Also, the rental was 1031, so I would have to pay taxes and cap gains right?