Thanks for sharing Joe, I might steal that spreadsheet layout to organize my investments as well!

@Sree Todu,Your intuitions are dead right -- if you carry a note from your sale, the face value of that note is not automatically deferred with the 1031 exchange.  

It's counter intuitive however, we find this approach to be highly effective. 

You could lay out a separate option agreement that is paid monthly as a down payment. 

As a first-time rental property investor, I am currently in the process of evaluating a potential investment opportunity and seeking guidance on an aspect of property layout.

Making a cash offer for a property sight unseen can be risky, Gather as much information as possible about the property, including its condition, age, size, layout, and any known issues.

Overtime, you will start to develop an intuition of price very quickly.  

The kitchen is what's sold me in my first house and it'd a great lay out in my current house.My next house I'll be a bit more specific - bigger deeper sinks, pasta faucet even if I only use it once a yesr for a big jug of summer iced tea lol and a dishwasher, walk in pantry are on my check list.I feel other amenities like skylights or big windows, cellars for dry storage would be cool too but I'm not really a big baker or canner lol.Now it's got me thinking - imagine a hidden island?

The one exception is if you have a 4 bed per say you could have 3 baths and 1- 1/2 bath- so you can still have "4 baths" obviously this would depend on the layout of your home. 

If you are married, try leveraging your wife's intuition on this a bit.I like to be within an hour or so of our properties so that I can manage them easily myself.