Been there, almost, done that,  involved in a golf course, no more, a marina is too much trouble and has a world of regulations on a Corps of Engineers waterway. 

There is a huge amount of difference between wording of the statutes and sec 1031 in its practiced form with a lot of case law that's been used to shape practice.  

As long as the Title is officially transferred to your Name upon closing, the Regulators shouldn't be coming after you, even if you then sell it straight away [still not legal advice]... 

Other than that, becoming intimately familiar with your materials...you have to know SKU's, and this just takes time and practice (and a lot of frustration and trial & error).

You may find later on that assigning contracts as a business venture can be different in the eyes of regulators and others involved in RE than an individual who just assigned a sales contract.

If this works is this common practice for buy and hold investors?

Then it's worth your time for the practice. 

Keep in mind that negative reviews don't necessarily mean a bad manager but a pattern of negative reviews indicating the same conditions or practices is a bad sign.

Is an LLC a practical requirement to investing in buy-and-hold with a partner? 

The parks harbor lot's of complaints as eyesores to the communities and shifty people ( not all are bad but you get increases of instances with MHP's on average. ) The county and cities also have an incentive to tear the parks down and impose heavy regulations on them because the tax base is low.