The calculation involves:Selling Price: $1,075,000Original Purchase Price: $355,000Depreciation Recapture: $105,300 (taxed at 25%)Capital Gains: Sale price minus original cost, minus depreciation, minus selling costs (~15-20% federal capital gains rate for their income bracket).State Taxes: Since the property is in California, state capital gains taxes will also apply.Given the multiple layers, I’d highly recommend your parents work with both a CPA experienced in real estate and a qualified intermediary for the 1031 if they choose that route.If you need recommendations for professionals in Illinois or California, feel free to ask!

This is for a 3 bed 1.5-2 bath house around 1500sqft.Im in Philly area

Of course, you need to choose your areas and decor wisely, so I recommend working with someone experienced who knows what the clients there are looking for.

You could choose to let your mother stay in the property rent-free.

I have owned so many properties in NY that were long-term rentals and it is renter-friendly, but if you choose correctly, you won't really ever care.Meetups are a great way to add to podcasts and books.

They/you can't choose the carrier - their software assigns it.Fortegra is one of the carriers (paper in insurance parlance) that their product is written on.That said, Fortegra is A- rated I believe by AM Best so that isn't the issue.I'm going to take a guess and say that your umbrella is written with PersonalUmbrella.com (Markel) and they require all underlying insurance to be A-rated but also with an admitted carrier. 

I just was giving a rule of thumb (framing was what I was bringing into the convo adding sf/adding bed/bath etc. without stating framing).

When most US investors are faced with the prospect of converting (lots of) USD to JPY, to buy properties in cash, that in depreciate in value (when contemplating resale) and face decreasing rents over time... you need something else to justify choosing Japan over the US.

but house hacking is the best way to get started wherever you choose.

This cannot get passed through until the commissioners review and choose to vote on the bill.