I'm looking at a short sale that's $335,000 and it's after repair value would be pushing $400,000.  

He is wondering if he should take the 300k as a price reduction (leading to boot from 1031 as he does not want to go higher than 25% down payment) or if he can avoid boot by keeping the price the same and take the 300k in a capex escrow account with the title company to be used for repairs over the next year (title company and bank are ok with this).

Look for books on "how to repair your house". 

-Have go-to contractors for repairs and inspections.Use Tech:-Use property management apps to keep track of rent and maintenance.

The biggest drawback I am having is calculating cost for repairs & finding a reputable contractor for a fair price - I know nothing about renovations right now.  

- After-repair valueThe above list is by no means exhaustive, but those are definitely some key points that lenders will want to understand.

Quote from @Mitesh Patel: Hello,An emergency electrical issue affected the plumbing lines too, and I am quoted the below price for repairs. 

Most Triple Net leases allow for the Landlord to bill for Taxes, Insurance, Common Area Maintenance and Repair, Reserve Budgets, Lighting, Property Management and mostly all other generally accepted operating expenses for a retail property.3.

That's why it's not selling.In most markets, your Maximum Allowable Offer (MAO) to a seller should be no more than:        MAO = (70% * ARV) - Repairs - Wholesale_Fee        MAO = (0.7 * 290K) - 40K - Wholesale_Fee        MAO = 203K - 40K - Wholesale_Fee        MAO = 163K - Wholesale_Fee               - OR -        MAO + Wholesale_Fee = 163KSo, you'd need to get this under contract with the seller at under $163K to make any money at all as a wholesaler.At $200K you're NEVER going to get any interest from experienced rehabbers.This is also why you probably got no resistance or pushback from the seller.

Getting into the story behind this one..This deal was sourced from a large corporate wholesaler (no names) Originally listed as 179,999 as a "wholetail" deal with an "ARV" of 250,000 I walked the house and estimated it needed little in terms of repairs, though I knew a realistic ARV was between 215-230 However, there were tenants in the house without a lease agreement with the current landlord.