I recently passed on it because of the look test but I’m still intrigued.

That I’m not wasting my time looking into the possibilities that exist.Long story short, I’ve inherited part ownership in a rental property passed down from my grandparents.

One more question, what happens if one of us passed away once we bought the 1031 exchange replacement property with our SMLLC?

I'll pass this by my attorney and if there's one inkling of breaking the law then I'll do something else.

It is not a community property state, so you can set up an LLC with yourself as the sole member, but need to make sure in a will, the property clearly passes to your children should something happen to you.  

Happy to connect as we see a lot of private lending deals that we pass on to others

I know for us, the CPS gas and energy bill can easily skyrocket, so I may consider asking tenants to pay if bill passes $200 or so...still thinking on it.

Birmingham passed most of the "rule of thumb" criteria recommended (job growth, household income growth) but the downside is population is -18.60% since 2000, and crime is a bit on the higher side (https://www.deptofnumbers.com/employment/metros/). 

I'd pass, there are plenty of good tenenats out there.

I'm going to pass.