I did eventually close on two places in February but the costs straddle two tax years.  

There might be more value with that approach if the house is salvagable and doesn't straddle the proposed new lot line.

These are licensed and registered people and firms.According to the SEC and FINRA a "broker" is any person engaged in the business of effecting transactions in securities for the account of others.Events or actions such as helping a company sell shares to raise capital, engaging in other activities like participating in presentations and negotiations, making recommendations to investors concerning securities, receiving transaction-based compensation (i.e. commissions or finder’s fees), and continuing or regular involvement in sales of securities are evidence of activities rendering a person a broker.The term ‘‘security’’ means any note, stock, treasury stock, security future, security-based swap, bond, debenture, evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest or participation in any profit-sharing agreement, collateral-trust certificate, preorganization certificate or subscription, transferable share, investment contract, voting-trust certificate, certificate of deposit for a security, fractional undivided interest in oil, gas, or other mineral rights, any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege on any security, certificate of deposit, or group or index of securities (including any interest therein or based on the value thereof), or any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege entered into on a national securities exchange relating to foreign currency, or, in general, any interest or instrument commonly known as a ‘‘security’’, or any certificate of interest or participation in, temporary or interim certificate for, receipt for, guarantee of, or warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase, any of the foregoing.Finders can avoid registering as a broker by limiting their activities to:Introducing prospective investors to a company without engaging in negotiations.Not recommending the company’s securities to prospective investors.Basing their compensation on a flat fee that is not contingent on the closing of a securities sale.You can find most of this on line on the SEC website.

As for the property you bought near WYCO lake, keep in mind that the lake straddles two different school districts.

Still, there is a tight rope we straddle, but when we show the paperwork on what is expected, the right direction usually surfaces.

“straddle play” option.One of the quiet creative options ... that you can leveraging when it comes to controlling the deal....Read some of Rick’s articles... at first it may naturally appear that Rick speaks in riddles... but as you gradually begin to read more and more of his posts about “probate”... the more and more you will become to get amused by his comments and gradually begin gathering incredible wealth of knowledge for how to deal with all sorts of probate related circumstances.Sometimes if scenario doesn’t allow for wholesaling perhaps some other type of exit strategy can suffice instead...Or perhaps connecting the dots in this circumstance under this specific set of conditions may perhaps not be feasible...

Nor can you deduct interest expenses on straddles, also discussed under Nondeductible Expenses.Investment interest does not include any qualified home mortgage interest or any interest taken into account in computing income or loss from a passive activity." - Pub550-Steven

Here's what I would do:20% would go into the Stock Market to support selling covered options (using straddles)20% would be invested in some kind of tech start-up as an Angel Investor 40% back into Real Estate but not in your market. 

I’d been contemplating that option prior to any thought about the STCG/1031 challenge, and believe I have a good case to go in that direction.Honestly I am straddling the line between diving in further with MFH and more active-value-add versus doing the safer and much lower return route of OZ in CO...

The dwelling itself actually straddles the property line (I guess this is fairly common in the area), so from what I've been able to gather this actually means we pay TWICE the property taxes.