You would probably need to issue a W-2 for your wife.On $100K, it likely will not provide a huge benefit to add your wife, as you would likely not max out contributions in your own name, but having her as a documented employee of the company would allow her to rollover existing savings from another retirement plan into the account.

I had been thinking about moving into it for 18 months (avoiding capital gains) - and selling my other home, anyway - while I finished up landscaping and such.The market where I live is schizophrenic (prices are all over the map) - and I'm not impressed with the small pool of realtors that work in up here (northern (like two minutes from Canada) New York) .

welcome @Timothy WadsworthBP is a great place to network and gain knowledge.

The benefits of the 401k, however, are mostly focused on higher contributions, which must come from the income of the business that is sponsoring the plan, so if you are selling $1500 on eBay, is it really worth going through the process of establishing and administering a Solo 401k?  

She can also benefit from an ongoing alliance here.

If one decides to reside in one of the units for 2 years prior to selling will the $500k exclusion take place and gains taxation would only be imposed on a selling price of $600k or higher?

I would like to find like minded individuals to gain knowledge from.  

I'm posting the details of this purchase and rehab for the benefit of newbies and those thinking of becoming a real estate investor, to show that it isn't rocket science to buy, rehab, and rent real estate.

Now if you build from the ground up or do a value add lease up with vacancy you can get a higher cap rate.The ones that are already stable in great area the owners will  not let go at a really high cap they will just keep the cash flow then eliminate their equity gain from buying 4 years ago.

Add in inflation, tax benefits to include depreciation, the slow increasing of rents over time, and the ability to use leverage at purchase--well, there are a variety of benefits to investing in property.