Market: We are in a coastal market that is primarily short-term rental heavy and as you probably know that puts upward pressure on prices and affordable long-term housing.

@Ben Freeburg I can tell you from our experience, we completed a duplex in June of 2020 in Mount Vernon, and then after getting it rented easily at top dollar, we purchased land to do another one (the one we are currently waiting for lumber).

The Baltimore program is under financial pressure because so many people want to be on section 8.

if every penny you're spending is from a HELOC you're under additional pressure as you have to beat the interest rate you're paying on everything. 

The good thing was, as Cheryl mentioned, it wasn't just a high pressured sales pitch.

How about your stress level when a tenant is getting emotional, how do you quantify stress or higher blood pressure?

If comps are 115k, that margin is razor thin low and only adds pressure to this deal, and eliminates nearly any and all exit strategy for you to do what you want to do, which is make money.

When I was selling residential solar I assessed 3-6 homes a day and often saw FPE panels with charring around where a breaker had been overheating for awhile and started arcing because it failed to trip, causing the breaker to melt and the wood framing the panel was mounted on to start burning.

Assuming the good ones are few and far between you'll not want the timelines of the 1031 to create pressure to find the second one. 

Also, sometimes the local store will sell you a fits-all kit of parts for less money than the original part... this is common for things like fan motors, where you can get a kit with a motor and several mounting brackets and just use the bracket you need.