Your muscles will be sore every day, you will see people doing much better than you, and you will constantly fail.

Now, property values have dropped—almost to the point where the capital gain tax I avoided through the exchange is offset by the decreased value.Has anyone found an effective 1031 exchange strategy that allows you to take advantage of the tax benefits while still buying the replacement property at a good price?"

in Florida I know of several renewals in the last 60 days that came in with a decrease in the premium with as much as 20%.

I would by real estate in cities that have seen large negative decreases in sales prices but are still positioned for population growth.2.

If you like your gig and making money from it.Real Estate is first purchased as an investment.Any potential tax decrease is a plus.Comparing real estate with other investment types such as stocks / bonds, real estate will likely get you the best after tax return.

It seems that Dollar General, although they decreased # of stores open this year, are a stronger brand than FD/DT.

Rent rates continue to appreciate strongly, with a consistent 7% market (3% in some sub markets, 10%+ in others) appreciation over the past few years. interest rates have  decreased in the last few months, and with the latest bunk job report correction and current trends indicated from the feds regarding 'inflation,' we are being prepared to expect more mortgage rate decreases.

Only issue I see (I am huge into data for my day job so I run numbers on cities on a regular basis) is that there has been population decrease in last 5 years.

I figure if I start out with a low maintenance property, I can lower the learning curve and decrease the stress of managing a business and rental property myself to allow me time to figure things out as I go along. 

Utilizing the same approach can can assist with for-sale housing as well where you can decrease DOM and move your inventory quicker, thus saving on carrying costs.