I canceled shortly after since the results did not justify the cost.

the standard is intent with no statutory holding period but most folks feel that more than a year is good unless justified by other circumstances.2.

Do the 1031 exchange rules allow me to co-invest on a new property with another person?

As soon as you make additional payments beyond loan interest (i.e. loan repayment, capital expenditures) then there is no guarantee you will have positive cashflow.So the quick rules of thumb for guaranteed positive cash flow are:cap rate is greater than interest rate (you've got this)the difference between cap rate and interest rate should be large enough to produce cashflow to cover loan repayment/amortization and capital expenditure plus some amount left over for the investor.if you're in a deal where you're financing with interest-only loan payment and there is no capital expenditures, then YES cap rate being higher than interest rate would very likely produce positive cash flow.Cheers...

You also have to deal with an HOA that may be hostile to landlords or have restrictive rules that make renting out a property difficult.Also, if your hope is to build wealth with buy & hold real estate, returns are terrible if you pay cash. 

Is there a good rule of thumb when it comes to GRM? 

Cash flow per unitSome equityCash on cash return1% rule, ect.. 

Rent rate of 0.59% (far below 1% rule), and OPEX of 44.7% (pretty close to Brandon Turner 50% rule). 

.- Attorney - someone along the same lines as the agent - someone with local knowledge/experience would be great as I'm not sure if there are any specific rules to the different cities within Hudson country that I should be thinking of.- Accountant (yes, I'm a CPA but unfortunately my experience has nothing to do with small business set up/taxation issues), it would be great to be able to sit down with someone to figure out how to best structure everything for my situation.  

The general rule is that if flipping is performed inside a self-directed IRA this will trigger unrelated business income tax.2.