Reported items put the seller in an ethical hot spot should they choose to move on and not disclose the item(s) going forward.  

Could @Lindsey Leemis arrange for her friends to "gift" her money under the annual limits and forego any treatment of the property as investment?  

work ethic ,, can be taught etc

Once you've owned it a year you'll be eligible for long-term capital gains treatment and you can reassess then based on market conditions and your other projects.

Partial or Split 1031/121On this I am less familiar, but I am quite sure one can perform a partial 1031, giving the 1031 treatment to the investment portion of your equity, and I am pretty sure this goes for the 121 home sale exclusion as well, so that *I think* an option might theoretically be to do a 1031 with the investment side of the duplex and a 121 with the side you're living in.

Yes your commission would only be $5000 but then you don't have to deal with the assigning a short sale issue or the ethical issues someone will bring up on here about not doing right by your client as an agent.

They are acting as an agent without the laws, ethics requirements, education, and insurance that are vital IMO.

And only you need to sit down; don't take your partner with you otherwise that lawyer is likely going to have to tell your partner that you're taking advantage of him under attorney ethics rules and conflicts of interest.

Hey I am all cash close in 10 days... only to find out none of that is true.. now if you believe white lies and fibbing to sellers to feather your own nest is OK then that's your moral and ethical compass  ( not speaking of individually as I have no way to know) just talking about how wholesaling is taught and you see it with the post above recommending that they use weasel clauses..  

Many member's of BP and the Indianapolis Real Estate Community work very hard to maintain a standard of ethics, honesty & integrity.