You paid 1% origination, closing, legal etc, and 4.5% interest.  

Says they are "fly by night," never returned my Deposit, Closed in Austin, looking for more "Suckers in Tampa, Florida." 

Quote from @Mathew Chacko: Hi friends, did anyone end up using e1031xchange ?

There are quite a number of things that can make utilizing an FHA loan more difficult such as more barriers during appraisal, appearance of low qualification/little cash, typically longer closing period, likely higher interest rate, and PMI cannot be dropped without a refinance if 3.5% down.That said, just chain 5% down conventional loans, and make sure your duplexes pay for themselves.  

Do we try to just buy a modest house through foreclosure or some other screamin' deal, house hack, then build up our portfolio from there?

We ended up selling those properties. 

You and your legal, tax and financial advisors should review this transaction in greater detail, especially the PLRs, to ensure you understand the significant risks involved and are structuring the transaction as close as possible to the PLRs to mitigate some of the risks.

Keep up the hustle, good things never come easy in life. 

Weirdly, you may actually be able to get better terms and/or more LTV on the refinance if there is debt on the property as lenders have rules for max cash in hand (max proceeds you get at closing) for cash-out refinances.  

If you're using traditional financing on your primary residence, they're going to do another credit check on you just before closing.