A deal killer has nothing to gain from telling you it's a bad deal.

@Kyle Cross, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think maybe what you're getting at is potentially pitching to your parents that you would like to take a shot at personally managing the units to gain experience and some form of compensation.

If I end up foreclosing the property, I will gain $200K equity (in my example, the amount will vary with each TD).

I am excited about gaining more knowledge and deals! 

I have a Bachelors of Arts in legal studies from CWU.

This risk here far outweighs any small gains in ranking. 

I’m in CA also and paid cap gains on huge profits to the tune of 28%, which included CA state cap gains.

Ok, if it's still sounding do-able, the next issue is that section 179 can't be used to create a business loss, so it would only reduce your taxes for the year if your rentals are operating as a taxable gain (but rentals are often at a tax loss thanks to depreciation).  

If you’re selling and you’re going to buy another rental no matter what, if you probably do a 1031 unless you have almost no capital gain or depreciation capture.

It also requires gaining a level of sophistication and knowledge that not everyone has the time, inclination or ability to do.