Both spouses appear to meet the real estate professional test of 750 hours of real estate activity during the year and their primary activity is real estate (according to Mark's book you don't need to be a licensed RE Agent).

@Denise Parent, Like everyone said, if you've lived in that for two out of the 5 years prior to sale you'll be able to get $250K of profit tax free (your husband won't meed the residency or ownership test). 

There is nothing wrong with “interviewing” or getting quotes from contractors, just don’t do it when you know they have a slim to nun chance of getting the job.

I mentioned earlier that the owner had no plan to sell the property, so the threat of walking away from the deal hoping he would come crawling back was slim.

That’ll give you some time to test the theory.

That is our little test.

You could even start to test the waters and find off market deals to wholesale if that appealed to you.

You don't have to inspect,but you can take a quick look and a quick sniff... if it doesn't pass the sniff test, they're outa there.

I would like to start out investing in small multi-family properties, but it's pretty slim pickins where I am at.

Property purchase from yourself (or an affiliate) does not count as a qualifying asset for purposes of then various asset tests under the OZ rules, so doing the purchase now and figuring out the OZ piece later likely won’t work.Also remember that you need to have capital gains that were triggered within the last 180 days to be eligible for ANY benefits under the OZ rules, including the 10-year tax-free appreciation election.