Work with a tax professional (preferably a CPA that does tax planning and not someone at H&R Block or TurboTax) to ensure you qualify.

Planning on living off of the positive income and then eventually on our investment.

This can be good because your realtor will be using them as a resource to help you plan your 1031.

Always ask tenants to check to make sure it is locked.Another disadvantage is that you have to change the batteries regularly.Another disadvantage is you have to spend quite some time programming the locks and tracking the code3.

I have some upcoming repairs needed that outweigh the Homestead Exemption and plan to make my primary home a long term rental in the next 7 years but the repairs can’t wait.  

So instead of waiting for the problem to compound until the lease is over, the plan is to replace the carpet immediately rather than try to muck with cat urine and get it 80% clean with various other solutions.

I’m unable to invest in areas familiar to me as I’m priced out of suburban NJ where I was born and raised.I’m looking to spend $150-$180K on a condo and will need to research viable areas.

This is the graveyard of great ideas, plans, hopes and dreams that were never done.

Spend time driving for dollars in Tacoma neighborhoods to identify distressed properties.

Areas like Downtown, Summerville, and West Augusta are particularly desirable due to their proximity to amenities, universities, and employment centers.In terms of your preferred strategies, it would be helpful to know what type of lending you plan to use.