Hi Jack, I have copied a brief article that I wrote on holding periods, so hope this helps:Holding Guidelines for 1031 Exchange PropertiesWhile the Department of the Treasury Regulations and numerous rulings make it very clear that you must have the intent to hold your 1031 Exchange property for rental, investment or use in your trade or business, they fail to define exactly how long or over what period of time you need to hold your relinquished properties or replacement properties in order to qualify for a 1031 Exchange pursuant to Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code or Section 1.1031 of the Treasury Regulations.Property Purchased Just Prior to 1031 ExchangeThe Internal Revenue Service has routinely taken the position if you purchased your relinquished property just prior to your 1031 Exchange transaction that you have actually purchased and are holding the property for sale (inventory) rather than holding it for rental or investment.

You still have vacancy, property managment and routine maintenance.

When you start doing repairs you're talking $1K+ if it's more than just a routine service/cleaning/charging.  

I am routinely doing open houses for other agents to help build my database of contacts, I preview 10-15 houses a week personally and I try to read as much as I can.

Find one that specializes in rentals as they know how to handle all the routine issues.

SF, Allstate, and the rest routinely write these with 1M limits.

routine.

Using the warranty I've had the following replaced/repaired without issue:1 of our 2 water heaters replacedA Dishwasher ReplacedAn in-wall water leak repairedPool filter (sand) refurbishedCracked Water Pipes (Pool) ReplacedEvaporator Coil Replaced2 Furnaces Repaired (Make sure your filters are clean or they'll reject the claim for lack of routine maintenance).Where they really suck for us is Air Conditioning equipment. 

A disorganized genius is no match for the average person with a daily routine."

Once you get good at it it becomes pretty routine.