If you do not close on enough of your properties to defer all tax you will simply pay the same tax you would have at the same time you would have.

Yes, depreciation is generally meant to defer taxes but that can have a LOT of value and here is why:1.

While all the posts have at lease some legitimate points, I personally believe camp 1 is missing the opportunities present to protect assets under US law mostly because they don’t either understand asset protection, or don’t want to bother with it, so rather than do a proper evaluation they dismiss it as something that won’t work to justify their unwillingness to entertain the idea.Camp 2 is deluding themselves - which delusion has been enhanced by charlatans writing books, giving seminars, and selling packaged plans all of which either attempt to hide your assets or hide the ownership of your assets.  

I would also add that if you have any upcoming capital gains from a passive activity (i.e. you plan to sell a rental property) then the depreciation losses from a different property can help offset/defer the gains from the sale on the other 

Could that bite our REP in year 5 when a big pile of ordinary earnings income is realized (if they don’t 1031 and defer it)?

He wanted me to sell the property for him, I knew it was paid off and I knew he didn't need the cash since I just sold a property for him a few months ago, so I presented the idea to him.

Benefits: This strategy is particularly useful for high-income years, as it allows you to defer taxes and increase cash flow by reducing your immediate tax burden.A cost segregation study can be especially beneficial if you plan to hold the property for several years and want to maximize deductions early, but just doing cost seg is not helpful.

No and you need to put this on hold and research the condo nuke that's about to hit Florida in the form of new legislation that no longer allows condo boards to defer necessary repairs. 

As long as you use all of your proceeds in the purchase or purchases you'll defer all tax.  

When you find out the present zoning of the property, the future land use and the local agencies comprehensive plan for how they see the area being developed (all can be done at the local planning office) you will have a much better idea of what you have just bought.If the land could in any way be developed into something more than single family residential lots, i.e. if there is any multi-family or commercial component than I would advise you to hire someone qualified to help you with the site planning of the development.