If so, there will be a recapture in the year of sale.If you carry the note on the property when you sell, you can defer your capital gains over 5-years ... but this does not fit your plan to use the proceeds now.If you have off-paper partners, the entire gain, and any CCA recapture, will be attributed to you ... you can always ask them to make you whole afterward (again, off paper).Are you able to control your other income (defer it) so as to lower your overall income in the year of sale?

The Wake county property cards don't have DOG DOOR or FENCED BACK YARD attributes.

So I have a house under contract and from the first time I've seen it, I've been pondering what to do to the front of it to make it stand out better.

This is attributable to wear and tear over 14 years....probably.If there are other significant damages to the apartment, then, you have to make adjustments accordingly.

That means that even though cashflow-wise, I am in the same position as I would have been by renting, I have increased equity in the property (net worth) of $7,500.Unlike rent, everything else I pay for is a tax deduction with the exception of the portion of some expenses attributable to my personal use of the property (the 12.5% of the property I use myself) rather than my business use of the property (the 87.5% of the property that I rent out to others).

Change your screening process to screen those attributes out.  

Some things that sort of stand out is the tile has big huge grout spacing that looks strange from the pictures and then their is the hatch or what ever the cut out is.

The other $25k+ of over budget items was attributed to additional stuff discovered during the remodel.

Any ideas on what's the most sought-after attributes for SFH (bedrooms/bathrooms) in the area?  

In addition you have $700.000 in equity sitting in the property that you have not attributed any return on. $700.000 invested at 5% would return $35,000 per year in income.