My experience went like this:1st meeting: total wallflower to the point of extreme awkwardness. 2nd meeting: seeing some of the same faces gives you the confidence to introduce yourself.

Based on the returns being offered I would be extremely skeptical

My biggest concern is figuring out how to approach him!

Been thinking of a 1031 myself, and your thread highlights my biggest concern with it, buying into a bad deal just for the tax benefits.

In the extreme case, it's just the landlord collecting rents by knocking on the door and taking cash based on a verbal agreement. :)Usually, the bigger the deal, the more sophisticated the operator is, and thus better records.So if you're doing more smaller deals, you may have to settle for less, but you can try and get creative during due diligence to verify your underwriting assumptions, like knocking on those same doors and getting a signed estoppel. :)James

Hi everyone.My name is Devin and I'm extremely new to REI...I just started within the last 3 weeks and I just got my first property under contract...now what? 

The concern with that is the cash flow.

There is never too much capital so long as you can find ways to minimize the tax concerns!

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns about certain markets.

The sticking point is that the bank could have an "overlay" concerning this, meaning, they may not allow it.