But before you rush your decision, you need to realize one critical distinction: treating this transaction as a business allows you to deduct all business expenses against this income.

This can have distinct advantages.

But the distinction is that single source funding is what is illegal and that transactional funding is legal. 

@john Is there a distinction between eviction and foreclosing? 

To lead this process of decision-making, formulate distinct preconditions for investing, among them cash flows, expected returns, tolerance of risks and investment timelines.Good luck!

Since you're selling 8 SFRs, this could break up into multiple distinct exchanges (most likely), but you have the option of combining multiple sales into single exchange purchases. 

As my wife and I are both over 45, we require a distinct approach to ensure we can retire within the next 10-15 years without having to work, particularly in physically demanding jobs, until our final days.

As long as the distinction stays clear in your mind, I think you will avoid any serious pitfalls.

important that there is often a distinction (however vague) between first time "investor" and first time "homebuyer" - always have to confirm if/what the difference in program eligibility is

But clearly other items are required because some that have 5 star are not getting the distinction