Or any amount of cash you take out from the exchange are considered to be profit. 

Learn about the Net Operating Income (NOI) and Capitalization Rate (Cap Rate)—these are essential to analyzing the potential profitability of a property.Return on Investment (ROI): There are different ways to calculate ROI in real estate, such as looking at your total return after a sale or assessing your rental income versus initial investment.

I do by the room and house hack, and for now I self-clean (takes me 10 minutes) and make way better profit than if it were a whole house rental. 

Wholesaling can be profitable but it sure has a steeper learning curve and requires a strong network of buyers which takes time to build.

>>For purposes of taxes, consult with a CPA to confirm this would work for your situation, but you could have the LLC be treated as a "disregarded entity" and thus, even if you and your wife are members, any profits/losses would "disregard" the LLC and go directly on your personal returns. 

Is that process too complicated, yes, but there is nothing in this decision that will prevent a tax sale purchaser in MD from reselling at a profit after obtaining the property by foreclosing the right of redemption.

I think a bit simplistic when it comes to business; solve problems 4-profit. 

As I studied earlier, the first thing you should do is marketing, then get a call and do a property analysis to understand if it's profitable for you, then meet with the seller and sign all the necessary papers, then if there is a debt in the bank we do a reinstatement quote, then do a title search to check if there are any hidden debts, if everything is fine we look for an investor or flipper and sign an assignment of contract with him and wait for closing to get our money.

The goal is to rehab this house then rent it to a qualified tenant until my fathers passing, at that time he has it in the will that the property is to be sold and then the profits are to be divided up between the family. 

But that also depends on your down payment- putting only around 20-25% down is hard to have a profitable STVR.Ultimately with STR v LTR, I'd be mainly curious about your intended use of the property.