There are a few regulations you need to be aware of: 1) The asset being sold must be an investment property and cannot be a personal residence.2) The asset being purchased with the proceeds must be similar to the asset being sold.3) Within 45 days of the sale of the property, you must identify the property(s) or asset(s) that you are purchasing in the like-kind exchange and you must designate the replacement property in writing to an intermediary, specifying the property you want to acquire. 4) The proceeds from the sale must be used to purchase another asset within 180 days from the date of selling your asset. 

Money’s a great slave but a horrible master, you need to make sure you identify a niche and stick to the plan.

Im looking to analyze a large number of marketplaces to identify which one I would like to invest in.

As far as I can see, this has some distinct challenges that I need help overcoming:1) Investing in a market that is a 3 hour drive from where I live2) Networking and building a good team at a distance3) Identifying good deals remotely4) Securing funding5) Doing all of this with no experience in real estate and a lot of lessons to learn(Of note, I have already read Long Distance Investing by David)I'm looking for any advice, recommendations, contacts, or lessons learned from those who have gone before me, particularly those in the VB area.Thanks in advance for any help and time you can give me!

That same weekend, my wife and I went on the MLS to find and identify properties to look at on a beautiful weekend day.

Get good at locating, identifying and getting good deals under contract.

Almost a year ago I identified a property I was interested in and dug down and found the owners.

A good CPA, advisor /planner, attorney, and self directed custodian can all play a distinct role for the items you identified.

It depends on how much capital you have (aka, do you need a mortgage), how quickly you can identify properties with solid flip potential, how great a your contractor is, and how long it takes for you to execute.With that in mind, especially when starting, I would not suggest flipping multiple properties at once.

@Megan Winterberg if I were to offer a suggestion it would be 1) identify your desired market (steady population growth, job growth, rent growth, decrease in crime, household income and value) www.city-data.com can provide a lot of useful metrics.2) identify your submarket using same approach as above.