You can get into a home for little or even nothing down, perhaps add some value by renovation, then hop to a new primary residence in a year with little or nothing down, and repeat.

Kind of a pain and also both less transparent and less efficient than before, but not drastically different. 

You can cover the wire mesh with drywall patches (they tape on wall and across the wire, white/paintable, different sizes) as the wire mesh is what will prevent the rats from eating their way into the property (the covering material is cosmetic only).

We are splitting up capital contributions at 50%, but see having different involvements in the repair process.

This was a DIFFERENT bank from the one my mortgage is in, I'm hopeful that works, but I'm not sure. 

If you trade different stock options, can they still be considered identical for wash sale rules if they have similar dates on the contracts?

Hey Jason, You have two different situations here. 

I’ve bought my primary with various Schedule C income and refinanced a primary with lots of schedule c and a number of properties (mostly owned in LLCs but reported on my personal return).

There is a distinct difference in the law between short term and long term rentals. 

A 1031 exchange would allow you to move into better properties in different locations while indefinitely deferring all tax on gain and depreciation recapture.