It’s realy exciting to see how people reposition portfolios these days.

I will definitely be taking advantage of trying to network with some Chicago people here.As for looking for a good tenant. 

However, I also think that a lot of people who set out to pursue this strategy miss the fact that it is literally a lifetime commitment to deferring taxes, which by definition means not realizing the gains.

If you discover one that sounds potentially relevant, and you have not explored it - see if you can still get hold of your accountant before 12/31 and ask them.

How many people do this?

From what I've seen, typically two people doing a flip like this have different skillset so one person is doing different things than the other.

People focus on the rates because they are a singular number and easy to understand but you can lose money on a rental at a low interest rate and get rich paying a high interest rate.

For people that want to close and make it pretty/official/permitted/etc once they are owners, the question is "what is the cheapest way we can get this to pass an appraisal without the appraiser calling for a licensed/bonded/professional/whatever to fix things prior to closing?"

Don't look are other people's pockets.

I come across people with limited credit history and/or no score.