@Eli Fazzojust curious - i am assuming your NY rentals have debt on them. 

It's very easy to make one tiny, minor assumption to fill in an unknown that completely changes the context and consequently the answer - I've caught myself doing this a few times.As far as the legal responsibility for the debt goes with Subject To, my guess would be that the contract basically provides a pathway for the seller to pursue the buyer for recourse related to losses they suffer from the default of the original loan, like a form of indemnification, but does not absolve the seller of responsibility for the debt.

They had exhibited the desire to pay down debt and had cashed out the parks before us that had agreed to owner finance.

Eliminate debt, establish a budget, and save.

From experience, I’d recommend getting pre-approved, improving your debt-to-income ratio if needed, and researching local assistance programs.

The settlement yesterday I bought a house appraised for $396,000, and I paid $255,000. 

We have tried multiple local collection agencies, and we have not received a penny for over a hundred thousand dollars of bad debt submitted to them.We keep hearing, "It takes time" but it's been well over a year with the most recent one.

A 1031 exchange doesn’t apply, but funding through a self-directed IRA can defer taxes, though profits from debt financing may trigger UBIT.To reduce taxes, consider forming an LLC for better expense deductions, offsetting gains with investment losses, or holding the property for 12+ months to qualify for lower long-term capital gains rates.This post does not create a CPA-Client relationship.

To Sum it up, its a good idea if you can exceed the cost of capital (higher rate than your cost of debt) with what you earn on your heloc/debt you pull out and invest.The question is how much gains above is enough to substantiate the risk of your variable interest rate, well thats up to your personal investing criteria.

I calculate the returns on the entire investment, since your debt applies to the entire investment.