I decided on the city for a number of reasons, but spent about 5 months just trying to learn the neighborhoods and areas prior to pulling the trigger. 

Will,Part of the problem is you did renovation work, which triggers bringing items up to ADA standards, i'm surprised your code enforcement officer ( building inspector) did not pick up on that when you filed for the permit ( you did get a permit for the work didn't you?

Seems a lot of investors are wanting 4-Plex properties, when some may be better off pulling the trigger on a detached SFD/ house which could be a better use of the 1st time buyer "Silver Bullet" VA loan  

If they only sell the equity portion and leave the existing mortgage, the transfer on title could trigger an automatic default by the lender.  

Here we go…My name is Tim and I live in Hillsboro, Oregon (let’s see how many keyword alerts that just triggered).

The taxes you mentioned are really only triggered by a sale. 

I've been looking to get into real estate investing for some time now but I'm ready to finally pull the trigger.

For example, when you try to do the same with a 401k plan, a 20% federal tax has to be submitted to the Department of the treasury by the 401k provider even if you later want to rollover the amount distributed back to the 401(k) plan, and in order to take such distribution, a triggering event has to be satisfied.

in 2010 I even went to FL to look at some properties bun never pulled the trigger and have been reluctant ever sense. 

I've been doing research/training/analysis for about a year and a half now and finally decided to pull the trigger of buying my first investment property.