I don't personally care about checks anymore so that wasn't an important feature for me. 

Do you have a price range and are you looking for turn-key properties or something along the lines of a "fixer upper"?

You need to be able to talk with strangers over the phone or in person to build rapport. 

I do not know how they are handling new customers verse the Midland existing customers.Regarding the customer service it seems the people I dealt with are still employed and only my "personal rep" as it were, was promoted and another took her place.

Mediation is a process in which the parties meet with an impartial person who helps to resolve the dispute informally and confidentially.

Or can you still run everything through your personal return (just want to make sure that I can deduct things such as HOA fees which I can do if it is a rental).2) If I do decide to run everything thru my personal tax return (save on LLC fees), should I at the least set up a separate bank account to track costs separately?

The agent will not be paying you/seller/buyer because the agent does not bring money to the seller/buyer in any fashion in a transaction (typical transactions), unless this agent is a partner to that person buying the property, or they are a principal to the property.Let me know if that makes sense. 

There is no point in doing a 1031 exchange if you expect a loss from the transaction.A 1031 is meant to defer your gain.There are numbers which you can analyze and stress which is not easy to analyze.It looks like you are stressed with this investment and I would sell.I personally, however, would look to make the improvement for $10,000 to get one of the other units up and running.

There they are seeing both a great job market, a number of large employers moving in, and are still in the top ten of population growth nationwide. 

Personally I dont think STR is really a move in Philly.