Offer them something and see what they would benefit from, in exchange for their time and avice. 

She makes $1000 at her job and over $2000/month as "survivor benefits" (I assume due to her military husband passing away).  

Also, the only benefit of rent hacking is that you may be able to live for free if you get your roommates to cover the entire cost of the lease.

Vacancy reports and Development forecasts were also part of their benefit of services.Unfortunately, they decided to retire in January and closed shop.

If you are asking if one strategy is riskier than the other then  the answer is mine is but thats only because of diversification alone.I think what you are asking is  what is the  riskier strategy. the only time my strategy would benefit me and hurt him is if the banks start having problems. for example if the bank calls the loan due for some strange reason he would be in trouble as opposed to me where I dont have a lender. 

But you're total gain including depreciation recapture was $60K so you would end up having to pay the tax on all $60K - no benefit to the 1031.The other question you're hinting at is what if you bought a tract of agricultural or hunting/fishing land that you intended to use for productive use (wilderness activities, rental, agricultural, livestock etc etc). 

I can see a benefit from not having to re-key a property and offering the smart home system as an incentive for new tenants, has anyone thought of this for their duplexes or multi family units? 

Not all debt is the same.  30yr fixed rate resi loans below 5% are much different than hybrid or commercial loans in the 6%+ range with calls, adjusts, balloons, etc bothering you to report your financial every year. 

They advertise you can use your 1040 "adjusted gross" income or if it "isn't representative", you can use your W-2 income. 

The benefit to the seller, is that they save on commission... so they should at least cut a bit of that off the price, right?