You would not recognize gain or trigger depreciation recapture on the sale when you do a 1031.  

In my opinion, the trigger for a decline in prices will be when the current tech bubble bursts.

@Chip Chronister, If you were aware that your seller was going to file BK, you should have immediately contacted the bank to ask them whether or not that was going to trigger the acceleration of the loan.

It must breath to keep dry.

We just did that.If your individual properties have conventional financing on them, whereby the lender could trigger the due on sale clause if you moved them to an LLC, then you could consider putting each property into a grantor trust (Nevada's version of a land trust) and assign the beneficial interest over to the LLC, which should prevent from triggering the due on sale clause.

If I decide to buy, I would gut the whole thing, put raw dry wall in, and renovate then kitchen and bathroom.  

They will not lend you the money until you have a project in mind (and have done some due diligence), but it could expedite the process once you are ready to pull the trigger.

I have and am considering something here, but to date have not pulled the trigger.

If a buyer does default, PA ( where our property is ) has favorable laws and clear procedures to handle that type of default situation ( not so in all states ) so i can rinse and repeat with little down time.Before I pull the trigger, I thought I would ask the BP Nation to share any advice, anecdotes, or information about their experiences, caveats, and takeaways surrounding installment land contracts.

I haven't pulled the trigger just yet but hopefully soon.