For example, for our first rental, we took a second "regular" mortgage on our house.

Regular 401Ks do not.

I thought about a regular mortgage but the stockpile of cash would have to payout twice a month and would cut the timline down drastically.

If you become an appraiser and all you're doing is determining values for regular sales transactions that won't add anything to help you with knowledge for a flipping business. 

But if you bought a vacant property, just use the regular sources, zillow, realtor.com. 

Although the Notice is confusing, because it is not written like the typical Disaster Relief Notices, this Notice extends any 45-day or 180-day deadline that occurs between April 1 and July 14, to July 15, 2020.COVID-19 Extensions-April 9th IRS notice released-NOT follow typical Disaster Relief 1031 Extensions: broad & confusing -EXTENDS: deadlines to July 15 if either identity or close on a property between April 1 and July 15-This may not be the final draft of this notice. 

But upfront a basic view of the regular economic cycle: This total cycle covers 100 years.

Just the regular maintenance, etc.Problems were minimal at first, just the usual you got to wait 3 weeks for them to inspect the place, and if they find one thing wrong like a cracked light switch plate you are not allowed to fix it even though you are standing right there next to the inspector. 

@John Farady that is very valuable information.I just wanted to add, in order for a DM piece to perform, your marketing message (copy) must match the questions going on in your target's mind and address their concerns, challenges, and problems.You could have the best copy, but if the letter or postcard is being sent to a target list where things aren't congruent (a match around solving their problem), what ends up happening is a deep frustration around DM.DM can be expensive to do on a regular basis. 

How frustrated are you with managing your properties maintenance? My tenants constantly reach out about issues they are having. Is that something you all experience?