How can I improve my experience in finding a good GC for renovation work?

You may wait 6 months to improve your credit to see if you could get a lower rate, but who knows where market rates will be.

(If you develop a reputation of buying distressed properties and improving them, you become an asset to the 52.

But you want to take the value of the land away from total value, that is the assessed value of the improvements.

I am also a realtor and the smaller company that I work for really likes to shoot these improvised youtube videos of the houses, they think it works well for them.

Inspect the property for potential deferred maintenance or needed capital improvements (roof, heating system, etc.).

Improvements within code?

The keys are consistency, tracking results, and tweaking for improved results.

Ryan Halverson - the assessor's value is not necessarily "old"; they will increase for any improvements where a permit was pulled and that improvement changed their valuation.

But even if it did, it makes no sense to even look at a 1031, since the OP indicated that the house would not sell for more than the basis (what was originally paid plus improvements) - so there's no capital gain to try to defer.