Your advice is usually 99.9% spot on... except for when I see this for newbies. 

Of course companies will usually have multiple homes in a subdivision etc., but I have had them shut down new business in a certain area if they've reached their "threshold" in that zip code or geographical area.We have a "retirement" community close to me where one carrier ended up with a majority of the risk there and they were real nervous about it for a long while. 

The way we do business WILL change, but for now, it's business as usual.

In my case the property is old, bought in the 1980's and was a primary residence for many years,(until recently), there would be a significant amount of money spent on capital improvements over those years that could be added to the 250K exclusion + basis that could be deducted in a typical residential sale.Therefore is that extra capital improvement deduction lost in the 1031 transaction ?

Regardless, you will likely be adjusting the expense base to reflect the tax reassessment (which you can obtain from the local county), insurance (from your insurance broker quote), property management fee, and usual repair/maintenance expenses/admin/advertising/contract services/utilities.

If you've already got a couple properties then definitely worth getting started on that, but not usually a priority for your first steps.

It is good practice to obtain from them the actual 1098 and to remind them that they are no longer entitled to the deduction since they aren't making the payments anymore (again, these things are usually spelled out in the sub2 agreement).

It's easy to obtain, costs very little, and doesn't require extra, on-going effort to maintain.

I did that for 5 years straight while picking up an occasional extra strictly rental property. 

I have discount codes for those last two if you need em, investors usually go with the first few ones though.