I am based out of Orange County, New York and looking to business in the upstate NY area. 

I flip homes in LA and Orange County.

Originally posted by @Judy Joy:The more I read in published articles the more I realize how a simple pill such as aspirin can save a persons life in dire times.

A few years ago, a small Escrow Company here in Orange County that also did 1031 exchanges, was owned by a person who found out they were dying of cancer, so one day, ALL the money in the escrow exchange account disappeared, along with the owner.So my advice is to do the 1031, the government did NOT take any risk and does not deserve that large of a chunk of your profit.

(Think Irvine Company in Orange County,CA, but all across the US.)

I'm doing a bit of both but my thought process is to take advantage of appreciating prices, especially in Orange County by rehabbing and selling.

@Chris Mcalister  I would not follow that advice that this is like a distressed asset and you should offer less than you normally would.. as this is not the case... what Elizabeth is talking about is apples and oranges compared to buying this type of asset... what you want to do is get it into contract so you can then do your inspection and based on that you can do an inspection addendum if you need to lower price.. other wise you won't get in the game.As long as its fairly priced in the first place.. and depending on who the seller is

I live in Orange County and do not belong to any RE organizations there either.

...........Orange County CA, according to this article in realtytrac.com, in terms of annual gross yield percentage - 5%.

I wouldn't send the same letter to owners in Silicon Valley or Orange County.