They had to de-skin the entire interior front wall, cut out all the compromised wood, put in new framing, re-sheet rock and paint.

A business entity is not a tax device, but rather a legal device.Depending upon where you do business, incorporating in Delaware or Nevade may just add to your cost of maintaining a business entity because you will still have to register your business in the state where you do business.If you choose a pass-through entity, MA will tax you anyway on your MA state income tax return.

We also put out a sign in the yard—though the property is located on a quiet cul-de-sac at the very back of the community and doesn’t get too much exposure to traffic.

We use VA trust to hold title to our Illinois property with Delaware, etc.

A properly set-up DST will both protect your assets and bypass the burdensome franchise tax that would be levied against a Series LLC.The Delaware Act expressly provides that “[n]o creditor of the beneficial owner shall have any right to obtain possession of, or otherwise exercise legal or equitable remedies with respect to, the property of the statutory trust.” 12 Del.

The website you took this graphic from explains the categories reasonably well in layman's terms (at least it seems to me).Preempts rent control = state law forbids state or local rent control.Has no Rent Control nor Preemptions = no law against rent control and no de facto rent control in the state.

In New Castile County Delaware, almost nothing short of an addition needs a permit.

Potential 1231 Loss to offset your 1231 gain.5) IF one of your other properties is pricey enough and not already done, consider a cost def study and get the basis broken out to take some bonus / de minimis6) Was this a loss property in the past with passive activity loss carryforwards?

But you definitely seem to be on the right path of "de-aging" the home (IE removing gold accent hardware :) ). 

In the 1031 Exchange world, the most common syndication was the Tenant-In-Common Investment Property (or "TIC") and is now the Delaware Statutory Trust (or "DST").