And that's the mental exercise you can go through to see just where your tolerance level is for paying tax vs the deferral route of a 1031.  

The time, money and mental anguish just wasn't worth it.

I love learning so I enjoy an environment where people are learning and growing both mentally and financially.  

I had too much of a spend spend spend mentality and never took enough time or thought to what I needed to do to live a more comfortable and wealthy life.

Also, because jobs here are much less demanding - mentally and time wise - we now have the ability to spend more time learning and focusing on RE investments.   

It is really scary (just kidding) that I find myself with what sounds like the same attitude and mentality as Mike.

Keep that mentality and you will be successful in life at whatever you decide to do.

(It also helped me overcome a mental hurdle that always bothered me - Jacob in "Early Retirement Extreme" budgets just a few hundred dollars per month for housing, and I never saw a way to realistically do that until I learned about house-hacking.

Sounds like a scarcity mentality guy trying to scare you.

I'm highly motivated and optimistic, and I'm pumped to break ground in such a versatile field.