That mindset was promoted by a known scientologist and while catchy and exciting, it creates a very dangerous, high risk mindset that's rarely, if ever, executed longer than a few days.  

I'm sorry you lost what may have been the deal of a lifetime but that's always the danger when you have a seller consult others before accepting an offer.

If you are someone who would be affected by a change to Section 1031 and you feel that it is in danger, you should contact your elected representative in Washington.  

This is extremely common and what we would call the most dangerous individual to an investor - the agent acting like a property manager as a hobby.Those agents have no property management training and simply pull up a lease from Zipforms and start filling out the blanks.  

I never said the word "dangerous".

You will likely get more tax benefits from using non-retirement fund as for REI than qualified funds and will definitely have fewer restrictions.  

If you are converting the TIC to condo interest (which last I heard is nearly impossible last few years even if the units are 100% owner occupied and fewer units, see link below which brochure was recently created by lawyers very experienced with SF TICs) then financing is a way bigger issue than you even let on.

That seems like a ridiculous and dangerous rule of thumb.

As a company, Safeco does the best if you have fewer than 16 units.

I have no doubt there are a great many caveats to this strategy and sadly, I often know just enough about taxes to be dangerous ;)