If you had it more than a year (in some cases less) you can trade out the property for another and defer cap gains and depreciation. 

But will add that according to their site, they are a San Francisco-based company, but their (incomplete) phone number uses a Los Angeles area code.Also, this blurb looks like it was written by a VA from another country: "Harmony Investments Ltd is one of the most trusted trade finance solution providers in USA"

It is a tough trade off to spend double today and have to wait so many years for pay back.

My husband is a contractor and can do 90% of the work himself, and his best friend has been VERY successfully flipping houses for years, so while we are rookies, we feel that we have the education, support, and skills to make this happen.

Sounds like you've got extremely limited knowledge and skills in this business and are already profiting off of a massively profitable business.

As you are figuring out where the answers lie, you are learning all the skills you need to evaluate deals in your area.  

Think quality of work, or any other skills that you are proud of having that you could offer to anyone, in any industry that would benefit them.

If you give a bit of info about what you bring to the table - background, interest in RE, skills that could help an investor, then it might be easier for a local investor to look at it as a plus to help and gain something in return.

Don't forget to always keep learning, work on your sales skills, negotiation skills and principles of marketing. 

But I have the building skills, and he the financial skills.