i strongly endorse first - laying the foundation of your enterprise in a way that fits your business strategy, goals, and investment locations.  

I'm not sure this fits exactly what your looking for but check out my post.

Their are no "one size fits all" solutions.The depreciation strategy does have recapture consequences but a $1,000 deduction today is worth more because of the time value of money even if you have to recapture.Also, even if you cannot take losses today, you can build them up as passive loss carryovers.

If you want to have new, you can't go wrong with a Kia Soul or Honda Fit, and you'll barely be financing anything.

Whether your exchange is $100,000 or $1 million, DST investments can be sized to fit your exchange.

It sounds like a rental property better fits my feet, with fewer financial tools available?

Keep in mind to have it re-fi'd, you'll need to qualify i.e. fit the bank's criteria for credit score, debt to income ratio, etc.

If you go to an open house for a property fit for investment you're going to get people looking at and talking about the property as an investment.  

Don't fudge your numbers to fit.  

I feel as though it would be a good fit to use a hard money lender on my first deal.