Essentially, you get to sell one property and use the proceeds to purchase another, without paying taxes.

This technique is highly encouraged and gives you the opportunity for face time with your tenants, quick access to your properties as well as living rent free essentially.

My wife wants to stay in the Aubrey school district until our youngest has graduated so that limits our options over the next 3 years.

On their tax returns they had Line 44A blank, so essentially $0…but then later on they listed vehicle miles in a separate line item.

Yes, good school districts are a draw and add value, but other areas sell too, maybe just because people find it easy to get to work and affordable.The numbers make this look like a nice deal. 

Louis area and is within walking distance from the downtown district.

To essentially blow that off because you do not know how to acquire at a discount...well, go for it.

As of yesterday it was brought to our attention that condos in a worse school district (we are either number one or number two in terms of best school district) that is a mere 5 min away, has listed at $250,000 for 1,631 sqft or $309,000 for 2,500 sqft.

Local and experienced professional that are willing to help you are essential to making it because you do not know it all and need some help from them that know.  

How far away might I be from reaching this point with real estate investing, using more passive methods which currently appeal to me, and thus, being able to replace my income and essentially switch jobs?