I have seen people recommend Niland, North Edwards, Chico, Palmdale and Bakersfield but from my initial research, these seem like duds.Anyone have any other recommendations?

Initial impressions are key, as well as great follow-through.)Your documents, rental agreement, and property rules (These need to comply with the laws of your jurisdiction, professionally presented, and be top notch to serve both you and your tenant well.)Good Luck!

Have not opened up a talked about this because of the shame, but this is my first step.

Curious how investors have done this or what should be the best steps to accomplish successfully?

The gist I'm getting is that the cost basis for the new property will be stepped down to adjust for depreciation on the property that's being exchanged out. 

Definitely something to discuss with your attorney, but my initial thought is that you should structure an entity to be the lender and have all investors be partners or members of that entity. 

No one looking to buy wants the business, they want the property which can and will be used to build an apt complex of at least 50 apts (on the conservative side)  and possible +100, which we've been told by the board is very likely since they want to build the area up.Does anyone have any experience in building a complex like that from scratch, i want to get into real estate and me (his son) this could be a huge step in the right direction, we have some investors we can sit down and talk with in the near future.

And then dealing with the DBI inspectors, they are clueless about these new initiatives, and act like everything is standard new construction.

I came into the picture when his initial partner fell through.

Corner cutting is fine, until it kicks back suits, liens etc. on you or property; then it seems not so good to skip a little preventative maint step.