In my experience, 75% of the time, the tax payer doesn't have a large enough liability to justify the accelerated depreciation anyhow- depending on your income and tax bill, it might not matter at all.

It will be highly dependent on the district and licensing.

@Jason Sinclair, having a designer for a wife, I would answer that it really depends heavily on each house, the flow and usability of the spaces as they are, and the overall use of space in the house as a whole.That being said, while there may be a small shift towards more separated spaces, "open concept" is by no means dead, and in many markets, most people seem to still want to have connectivity between their communal spaces.In fact, my wife's current flip is a split level (although technically it is a split-foyer), and she is taking out a structural wall to connect the kitchen, dining and living areas.  

It just depends.

A lot depends on your entry price and instant equity. 

What to do with the equity in this property will depend on what your personal finance plan says about your asset allocation. 

However, I haven't had a single application submitted for over two weeks.

You will need different attorneys in different states depending on where they are licensed.  

I have them tell me how long a project will take to complete, and then I add buffer days or maybe up to 2 weeks, depending on how long / complex of a project it is and potentially accounting for weather if it is outside work.

The management companies & local investors usually lease places up within 1-2 weeks max (depending on if you want to hold out of higher rents) How would you think about leasing these out?