Good points J ScottThere is a long list of activities to do and habits to develop that that we can do to live longer lives.Using hand santizer & sunscreenEating a balanced, heart-healthy dietExerciseBrush & flossAbstain from tobaccoUse alcohol in moderationetc.Some people choose to follow what experts agree will extend our lives because they enjoy those activites.It is wonderful that they have the freedom to choose to do so.I'll stop there before wandering into politica debate.

GOAL - To create a robust real estate portfolio for generations to come.

These low rates ignited robust purchase activity, which is up 25% from a year ago and has been growing at double digit amounts for four consecutive months.

I suspect the same would happen to you as well.its not like you need the cash flow to live ( as I think you have a robust RE brokerage business that probably pays your bills) and your exotic car 's  :)Or ,Sell it all now and pay the small cap gain tax and then use those funds to match up to a facility and start lending... you could get 2 to 1 leverage so .1.3 nets you 1mil  1 mil leverage ( I use to leverage 4 to 1  but say today its 2/ to 1) now you have 2mil to put out in your local market at a conservative 15%  thats 300k a year Net cash flow minus 60k for your 1mil borrowed net 240k a year plus you can be in cash in any one 12 month period if you needed to... so this triples your current cash flow.Do some equity deals on your loans and you may make 500k with those same funds.Take some of the rentals.. sell them and 1031 into premium timber ground in the northwest..

But in other areas of the country were RE is not as liquid and the markets not as robust..

Alcohol and tobacco business have no problem with banking.

They use the same imagery, but Google Earth is a much more robust environment that gives you tons of additional information.One advantage of using Google Earth would be the ability to pull in more than one vendor's data for the same home, on a single map.  

Am looking at corecon.com which expresses on their website that it is a robust PM/CM software that will eventually iron out some of my constantly changing standards (trying to improve but sometimes I forget my own rules/standards).

If the business has employees, a more robust type of 401k that is more complex to administer and not a great self-directed investment platform is required.

@Carrianne Mucho  yup if I was not so invested on the west coast and was looking for a new place to live it would be one of my first choices.. but you would need to be a water dog... its surrounded by water. and us Californians are used to mountains and they don't have any of those.. but culture great food , ( have to import your wine).. nice people and a robust Real estate economy with thousands of potential rehabbers.. since the city is so old  2nd oldest in the US>  I just close on one I was going to rehab.. turned out the termites caused so much damage its a demo job.. but not to worry new construction there will be just fine :)check out  74 America Charleston  SC  this is one I just sold last month.. this is what we are building there selling at 225 to 250 a foot finished