tenant may interpret that as part of them doing landscaping. 

***Not legal advice, just my interpretation. 

The primary residence exclusion of sec 21 which has been in place since 1987 would allow him to take $500K of gain right now tax free but the remainder over that would be taxed.If he chooses to convert the house to a rental for up to three years he can still sell and use both the primary residence exclusion and shelter the remainder of the profit in a 1031.So it comes down to your interpretation of the market now-sell now and get $500K tax free and pay some tax.

Another matter is that any contract that is seen as improper or carries favored treatment of the party who drafted the agreement can be interpreted to the detriment of the party drafting the agreement.

I have to vent a little on this closing I just wrapped up today.I want to see if I'm way off base here and just let frustration get the better of me or if this title company was just trying to do the right thing but with a some poor interpretation of the rules.So here was the scenario today at the closing.

It sounds like Buy & Hold is your goal, the manner in which you achieve this is somewhat open to interpretation at this point?

I think it allows 72 hours just to respond, and whatever reasonable means is up to interpretation I guess depending on the scope of the effort.

I have to Disagree  on that one my Family is Been Investing in Real estate for over 70 years, i am the 4th generation and my Grandfather now 85 and very very well off gives me his advice and tells me if you can get some free money ( cash flow ) that what he calls it is still the best cause somebody is building equity for you and you getting a return on the original cash investment you did out of pocket its not that is for poor investors is for people who are starting and want to make quick money that part is true but not always Cash flow is a powerful thing with the right cash flow property you can start extracting equity and build savings and grow your portfolio even more no matter how rich you are, the shorestein family large real estate owners which i happen to know personally says less money out of your pocket more money that will come in after pay day. interpreted how ever you want thats my opinion not all deals can be cash flow but if you find one is good to get in.

I'm still learning how to interpret the data and curious if this is how you'd evaluate a Turnkey property? 

My business model for several decades involved litigation and mitigation of some of the craziest cases, both off the radar and high profiles, that you can imagine.A court of equity does not always rule what's fair, but what upon what is presented before the court and the bench officer attempts to interpret, apply statutes and prior rulings.