There is also the emotional aspect that makes us want to avoid certain things, like townies walking through just because they are nosey.

Quote from @Dave Foster: @Jonathan Greene, Thanks for that shout out. 

With a good contract, you can foster long-term relationships while receiving quality work for your renovation project.

@Dave Foster is the man when it comes to this stuff. 

This has affected me on an emotional level far deeper than it has economically. 

Geez, there’s so much opinion, emotions, beliefs, and personal experience in this thread.  

The shelters and foster networks are incredibly overrun, and I want to be responsible and not hand them off to random or possibly cruel strangers.

You’ll need an expert like @Dave Foster in rewards to doing a 1031 for your business.

Take the emotions out of it and put together a pros/cons list. 

All in all - owning a place to rent to other people is a business, and business decisions need to be made based on that cold hard facts and not on an emotional basis, unless someone wants to quickly go out of business.