But, since I've been in a holding pattern waiting on the Florida builds, I haven't seen a clear path forward to purchase another house while waiting for the builds to finish.That really doesn't answer the question of why you decided that your "plan" was to buy one property per year. 

People are holding on to their properties to see which way the wind blows, so finding a decent student property right now is tough.

History repeats itself again and again and again.

But I will say that 1031 will not apply, that needs to be a longer-term hold/investment. 1031 applies to rentals, STRs, MTRs that are held for much longer. 

Investment Info:Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Sounds like you have thought out a lot of this, but maybe also hold a competition with a cash prize at your closest architectural and design school.Can you build it cheaper than someone like this?  

My strategy is buy & hold for stable cash flow with some appreciation over time. 

Investment Info:Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

It depends on the market and whether you'd like to hold onto more liquid cash to put toward the next deal. 

If I were a voucher holding tenant, I wouldn't limit myself to only looking for homes that say "Section 8 welcome" on their applications.