Within the city of Austin and other local markets with limited inventory, homes are spending a fraction of time on the market—as little as two weeks in some areas.

I'm sure some people have good working relationships with contracts and know guys that'll do it for a fraction of that and if you do the legwork / grunt work yourself you'll save money yadda, yadda, yadda.

I am in Harris County Texas, more specifically the city of Katy,TX where public works, school districts and such are part of the tax bill PLUS additional fraction of a percent directly to the city.The appraisal district has a particular portfolio of properties all assessed at significantly lower than what like property potentially would be valued at.

A contractor who wants to live in the property can fix it up for a fraction of the cost plus they aren't looking to resell for an immediate profit so they don't need the price to be nearly as low.While a flipper might demand that the property be 70% below ARV minus repairs, and holding costs, and resale costs, and your assignment fee (in other words your max offer to the seller would probably have to be less than 50% of the ARV).

More rentals, a larger multi-unit, another type of commercial, if you run out of time you could always get into fractional NNN if you’re looking for a totally hands off investment. 

There are several types of fall back positions that you can use in a pinch as well including - pocket listings, fractional 1031 compliant properties, and also the option of simply not completing the 1031 and eating the tax. 

Maybe part of something else you own (but you'll have to watch out for a potential step transaction and profit on your end), or a passive fractional cash producer.Keep thinking I think you're close to getting a great scenario together for Frank. 

Gain is allocated to nonqualified use by multiplying it by a fraction, with the aggregate periods of nonqualified use as the numerator and the total period the taxpayer owned the property as the denominator.

Flooring - Using laminates to capture today's trends can cost of fraction of hardwoods.   

So rather than spend a bunch of money and bring in a specialist inspector for all the different trades (electrical, plumbing, HVAC, roof, etc) you can bring in a generalist at a fraction of the cost to evaluate the whole house looking for a broad range of problems.