Many months of costly vacancy, local market rent & resale deteriation, special assessments, property taxes and maintanance fees suggest a quick sale would have been the wise thing to do 2 years ago.

I've worked with some Canadians buying  here in Ohio.Indeed, rather than selling your stocks to fund investments (and lose out on any potential price appreciation and dividend payments, as well as incurring capital gains taxes), a nice alternative is to borrow against some percentage of the holdings.You would start with the brokerage where you hold the stocks and see what their loan program looks like for the account you hold. 

Is it fair that the county can raise property taxes due to a strong market?

Preforeclosure owner finance wrap, paid off the default payments and taxes with cash and assumed the owners loan.

*Renovation Costs – Includes labor, materials, permits, and unexpected repairs*Holding Costs — Utilities, property taxes, and financing costs during the renovation time.

If you need financial help, ask under the "Finance, Tax, and Legal" forum.

My CPA isn't well versed in 1031 exchanges and I want to know the effect of transferring title back to our names from a tax perspective. 

I know that i could buy my next multi family property as a primary residence close by move in, rent half live in the other and than rent where i am now which would cash flow upwards of 1k monthly, or i could buy another multi as strictly an investment property out of state which would be a lot cheaper (taxes and cost of property) and a lot more landlord friendly laws than New York, i guess i’m just undecided on which route i want to take and I’m trying to weigh the pros and cons of each scenario.

OPIf you have a company with a Sales tax license.  

Preforeclosure owner finance wrap, paid off the default payments and taxes with cash and assumed the owners loan.