This was not a complete rehab, we were keeping the main bath, moulding, and original dooors. 

I'm calling about your property for sale on Main Street. 

Yea the area doesn't look like it will appreciate much, I mainly look for cash flow.  

Mainly because many seconds the rate on the note is a few points higher so greed takes over with no real understanding of the risk..

But from my understanding, the captial gains exclusion has two main criterias - you must have owned the home in the last 2 to 5 years and must have lived in the home in the last 2 to 5 years. 

That sale should qualify for the $500,000 sale of personal residence exemption for tax purposes.

For bookkeeping purposes, I recommend designating a separate bank account exclusive to the house hack activities to keep some sanity.

I wish I could say that I'm venturing into real estate investing for some benevolent purpose like providing low-income housing for the needy... but financial gain is certainly my angle lol.

Thus, my main goal joining this forum is to try to gain confidence in the decision to get into real estate investment and better understand the risks that I may not be considering due to my lack of experience in the field.

If you want to defer taxes, a 1031 exchange allows reinvestment into another investment property, but the replacement property must be held for investment purposes.