If  you chose to sell, there are a couple things you could do to proactively make the 1031 process much easier. 

My wife and I are in the process of looking for our first investment property and look forward to networking with the BP community.

Yea, I'd love to call and maybe change your mind with our processes 

@Divya Sarin Are you still in the property search process? 

;(- if as-is value is less then the balance on the mortgage + arears OOOPS you need to have the owner work with the bank, you as the investor buyer AND a short sales expert often an agent work the tedious and usually failing short sale process. 

@Kana Watanabe I have seen @Christopher J Driscoll Designs for his ADU and they are amazing, He has gone through the process of speaking with a lot of GC's in the area so hes a great resource for all of the above.

Texas tends to favor landlords in these cases, but follow the legal process exactly—any misstep could delay things.As for protecting against retaliation or property damage, installing security cameras (if you haven’t already) to monitor common areas might be worth it.

Maybe you have to have a little thought process too.   

I am new to this, and you may find the answers with this process as well of course so I consider asking here worthwhile as well.

I know real estate is a long term play but you never know when you'll need access to that capital.There are turnkey companies out there that handle the entire process for you from top to bottom so it makes for an extremely passive investment.