My wife and I never qualified (income’d out) but our friends did and have made out like bandits with 2 properties and heavy cash flow.2.

If they can't qualify with three of them, what do you think will happen when one of them decides to move in with her boyfriend or transfer jobs or whatever?

This is crazy and doesn't make sense to me that we qualify for this refi on every aspect but can get held up for $1200 that i can't just pay now?

I come from a family of construction workers and have a nice set of skills for fixing up houses, as well as a mother who was in the land development business when I was a child.

I understand you want the opinion of other investors, but ALL legal questions should be referred to a qualified legal professional in the field that covers your query. 

If you do an exchange, make sure to use a qualified intermediary (I can recommend one or two) and I’d also recommend listing more than one potential replacement property (can list up to 3 and it can be property you found as well as a DST or a combo of both).

There are many different ways to invest in real estate both in and outside the qualified plan(Ira or 401k etc).  

I think in most salaried cases even, you'd need a minimum of 2 years job history to qualify that income.

I’m at the point where I’d like to find 1-3 markets I can actively work to help increase the odds of finding the right deals.Hopefully some veterans out there can help me streamline my research skills.

You should be able to qualify you for good loans.