It's easy to obtain, costs very little, and doesn't require extra, on-going effort to maintain.

While there are some rather light legal and tax aspects, buying or selling a note is not rocket science.The hard part is selecting the right note and obtaining the right or an acceptable price.

I also was able to obtain copies of the lease agreements which I believe were falsified.  

You must obtain and pay for all other utilities.

If there’s a real problem with the system, it stems from the difficulty of actually EXECUTING an obtained judgement.  

Was it hard to obtain a permit?

@Stephen Kehoe - my worry is that after I house hack for a year by living in the basement and renting the upper floors, an inspector will need to review the property to obtain a rental license as I will no longer be living there and is considered a rental SF.

A 1031 exchange is a great way to indefinitely defer the tax and use it to grow your RE portfolio, and build long term wealth.The most important factor in a 1031 exchange is that your qualified intermediary must be in place prior to the closing of the sale of your old property.

Far too many first time investors obtain less than ideal financing terms, just for the ability to vest in a LLC.

Especially with the favorable tax incentives offered to buy and hold real estate vs the ordinary income tax you'll pay on private lending.A 1031 exchange would allow you to indefinitely defer all of the capital gains tax you would have to pay, and instead use it to purchase better performing property/properties.