Doors left unlocked, squatters, appliances stolen, etc.I do believe for many people great PM can be a money maker and money saver. 

Lastly, I understand that in a couple of isolated instances a the Qualified Intermediary has simply stolen the funds from the first sale.Are there other downsides to doing a 1031 exchange?

We had tenants that staged a break in and claimed the rent money was stolen.

They sell our stolen units to homeowners, homebuilders, and sadly investment companies as “refurbished” units.

Getting phone calls in the middle of the night to fix heaters or calls about basements full of water because the house was vacant and the copper piping was stolen.

I go 70 in a 60 zone, I’m a law breaker, the egg doesn’t get uncracked.However, my point wasn’t that, but that that law being broken (civil vs criminal is irrelevant) also leads to all the others being broken, like lying on mortgage applications with false/stolen ssn... etc as I listed before.Go ahead and try to live for a year or two using a false ssn, see what happens.  

Add watermark with your phone number (I use google voice, so can turn off when rented) and company name  all your pictures, so that is in the stolen ads, too.As for where I get people - facebook is a big one, but I don't place the ad there, just let it propagate from apartments.com and from tenantcloud (paid sub).

hahaha ya.....amazing how many times we as landlord has to fight with criminals/squatters/drug dealers , these squatter is really nasty, they blew up my toilet and made one of the room really a freaking horror story, they stole everything that can be stolen.

We've done about 12 projects and in the past year have dealt with constant theft and vandalizing - condenser being stolen, a whole house of staging furniture being taken, the meter loop of the house  being stolen & causing a host of electrical issues, then a few days later all the wiring being cut and stolen off of the same house.  

I am not the most experienced real estate investor only investing in one home in my life, however I have over 16 years in the Lease to Own Business and am currently a Regional Manager for the nations largest furniture leasing company, and deal with similar issues with customers and It has been my experience that in every case the need for something outweighs the individuals need for security and privacy I have on occasion dealt with folks that have initially refused to give a social, however when it came down to not getting the merchandise they always went ahead and gave the info..