What's even more frustrating than asking the IRS help desk, is asking a Turbo Tax "Tax Specialist".

If you need financial help, ask under the "Finance, Tax, and Legal" forum.

Out of my 32 properties, I’ve seen insurance rates drop by up to 40% on renewals, and property tax increases are finally slowing down compared to the crazy jumps we saw over the last five years.

David,Yes, investing out of state can be a wise choice especially if you live in a State like CA, NY, NJ, CT where home prices are over priced and taxes are brutally high.

I reduced my responsibility to only taxes/insurance while the tenant buyer does the maintenance, pays utilities and makes monthly payments to me. 

although we bought about 6 years ago or so for 270 put 100k into it so you can do the math  no debt .. hoa 400  we pay utls. 200 or so.. so 600 a month out of the 3500.. tax's about 1500 a year ( got to love Vegas taxs ) value today right at 600k.. so lets say we net about 33k a year on 370k cash .. so not bad little under 10% COC with an outstanding tenant one of the best I have ever had.PS given tenant quality we manage ourselves.. 

You payment is $2,600 plus tax and insurance.

Thats $7700 a year NOT including my accountant/Tax prep. 

The 1031 exchange rule to defer your tax is two part 1) reinvest all your proceeds and 2) purchase a property (or properties / DSTs/TICs) with an equal or greater market value.  

For tax purposes, rental income is generally recognized in the year you receive it, not when it is paid.