Anyone that has closed successfully, I'd love to hear some challenges or problems that we can avoid on the front end and be better equipped going through the process. 

You cannot defer taxes on profit of a sale of real estate, or any 1031 property (livestock, equipment, etc) unless it is of 'like-kind'.

Not so much with real estate as they tend to be well attended around here, but I have been to automotive, heavy equipment and boat auctions where there are three or four bidders for dozens of items up for bid.

My fear is something going south with this purchase and us not getting a loan in time and someone else buying the property before we can.The asking price for the home is 85k, needs possibly a new roof, HVAC, the pool is in bad shape needs new equipment, walls have holes punched, and windows all need to be repaired, this will be a full rehab.

The lower unit is ADA equipped for a wheelchair user, and will require about 5-7K in repairs to convert it back to a non-disabled use apartment. 

I don't think parking my equipment next to my tennants sounds real smart.

But I'm ecstatic that I dont have to rent any equipment or get an expensive plumber to fix this issue.

The venders that the home warranty companies hire or affiliate with are the worst and don't know how to fix the equipment that they were hired to fix.  

We got robbed two times and my crew was made to lay down on the floor at gun point while they stole all our equipment from our trucks.

Rehab included demo of a few interior walls/kitchen soffit to open the property up, all new interior paint/flooring/base boards, exterior paint, roofing repair, AC unit, replaster of the pool, equipment maintenance, all new landscaping, full new kitchen, all new showers/valves/tile.