@Matt Lockwood,From the mortgage perspective, which is what I know...Get on payroll as a salaried W2 employee for the foreman job, or it's a 1-2 tax year wait until you can get in the game yourself as an REI because of mortgage guidelines.Write off as much depreciation as possible (as much as your CPA says you can lawfully write off), but no meals and entertainment (unless your CPA says it's unlawful not to write it off). 

That property wasn't a deal for us, but we had a nice meal before heading back to Little Rock.

Will's just pulling your chain, Vic, with that guru-speak about a bootcamp.

Nobody gets in good shape by lifting a dumbbell or eating a healthy meal one time, ten times, or a hundred times.

Big chain stores in the area (Home Depot, Target, Best Buy, Barnes and Noble etc.)4.

Why do you think we ended up with "daisy chains" of junk notes that were circulating around the internet with (as you also alluded to) wannebee brokers trying to pass themselves off as buyers.

No daisy chains!!!

One place had a tire tool that was bent, (the X types) painted red and had a chain spot welded to it and the key was spot welded to the chain!

I choose the well established companies.They are full service (as are most) from opening your order, to generating your prelim, policy, clearing your chain of title (generally via a Title desk) , in-house escrow (for closings etc.) etc. and have their own in-house attorneys.Now, the set-up I speak about above has changed in some states but the services remain the same.In most cases, if you use a title company, you do not need an outside attorney for your real estate deal.

@Ryan Melander, An audit of a 1031 if it ever happens will focus on documentation and timing of the 1031, arms lengthness of the transaction, and chain of custody of the proceeds.