Move to an area with higher population (with hopefully more opportunities)  buy a house and start my business with say, $60k-$80k less. 

You can find more info on 1031 exchanges at this link: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/like-kind-exchanges-under-irc-code-section-1031Regarding the change of ownership from joint to individual, there might be a couple of ways to handle that depending on your state laws and the terms of your divorce agreement.

This allows you to close and begin generating passive income while you are still studying.

STVRs is a hospitality/ management business .

Long-term rental and a short-term rental are two completely different business/investments.You should understand what each requires and see if you are comfortable with them.Short-term rentals, on paper, generate more income but require more work.

Would I be able to avoid a licensing requirement if I only do business in states where a license is not required?

This is a cash business.  

That’s why I’m putting together this course—to share what I’ve learned and help others find that balance and financial security.Looking for InsightsI’m aiming to make this course as helpful and relevant as possible, and I’d love to hear from fellow investors about:- Challenges you face in your real estate investments- Topics and tools you think would be most helpful in a real estate investing course- Any questions or concerns you have about investing while managing a busy careerOpen to a Chat?

It's all run under the table currently and haven't had any problems, but want to formalize this as a business to avoid any hardship down the road.I don't know how I should be protecting myself here.

I thought the holding company would not conduct business but have subsidiaries of LLCs for each aspect of business or up to 1million in assets.