Thank you @Mark Kappelman for your insight! 

Any insight would be great, thank you!

@Caleb Heimsoth Very insightful, thank you!

Thanks for all the insights on this topic.

I wavered between selling or renting prior to getting insight here. :/ But at least it will give me time to prepare for 1031 exchange and pick good investment(s.)

if you are a beginning rehabber, this is a deal i would avoid, (unless you have experiences in other related areas or have researched this extensively or have asked experts i.e. structural engineers for their input), as 1) you don't know the prices your contractors would charge2) the estimated rehab costs are lumped under general categories (i.e. concrete, plumbing, electrical), but do you know which specifically/exactly you need to fix?

@Irina Belkofer@Dmitriy Fomichenko is quite an expert on this topic. 

So, my question to you RE experts in 1031 exchange is, are there any tax strategies to implement post 180 day exchange rule expiration to avoid this mortgage boot tax??  

I’ve been doing some digging on various sites like List Source and through BP here but was hoping for some insight on these questions.

In return, they'll likely share insight, information, experience, etc. with you.