I am an accounting student in my last year of college and I am taking the Real Estate Associate state exam in May.

These are very suspicious to the IRS and if examined their first thought is going to be that you are "basis shifting" (meaning artificially adjusting the value/sales price to shift the amount of gain for one or the other party). 

The longer you hang onto the SD property as a rental, the greater your depreciation recapture tax bill will be when you sell ( you can wrack up a hefty sum pretty quick on a prop of that value).

I guess the best approach is to get multiple estimates and also examine previous work by the contractor you would like to hire.

Aside from the issues we've discussed regarding what neighborhoods these properties are likely in, most big lenders don't like lending small amounts (since they make their money on interest and the interest fees wrack up slower with lower balances), so if you're looking at an average of $16.7k per prop at the actual down payment of 25%, that means these props are worth $66,800 or so and your mortgage would only be worth $50k.

Rule #2 Rules are meant to be broken.For what it is worth I think the guru's selling LLCs have greatly overstated their value to an investor and are charging outrageous trumped up fees and the only folks making money with them are the shady folks marketing them 24/7.After examining the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" (Trump Tax Cuts) the most beneficial income tax treatment starting in 2018 is the "S Type Corporation".

I take the state and national exam in about week.

I’m not sure which site plans examiners go by. 

In the Chicago area the rate is about 1-1.5%.More importantly, I believe, you may want to examine your motives for entering into any business or personal relationship where the other party does not value you?  

They are examined for egress and proper placement of utilities and compliance with building code.