My fear in doing so is that getting into something now with as much equity or at today's values will NOT be easy (probably worth about $600k, mortgage at about $200k) and we will end up selling off half of what MIGHT be our entire retirement!

You can also ask, without fear, about their status as a sex offender.

“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” - George AddairHope that helps, best of luck.

But I fear that there is a 1031 issue that you haven't yet considered if I'm reading your post right.  

As you know, you are dealing with humans, treat them well but know they also fear change and no one likes rent increasesIn addition to the holidays, I imagine it's pretty cold out there and you might have a hard time finding replacement tenants right now. 

@charleskao thank you for the idea on that, i only fear getting into deep water legally and im just trying to avoid that, what would you say to do if the sellers title company doesn't accept what im doing?

Based on your fear of “age” expenses I suspect it doesn’t cash flow much.It is very difficult to say... does it cash flow $25 or $1200?

Tenants have notoriously waived many red flags in fear of losing "their' home, and a few are valid and many more are not.Best of luck out there!

My other fear is non paying tenants, destruction of property etc...what happens when the place burns down because a tenant forgot to put her cigarette out?

My biggest fear, and I'm sure this is a common one, is that I'll accidentally hire the wrong people and end up losing money on a potential non-local property.3.