To answer your first question, there is no tax benefit to buying a late stage note vs early stage.  

The meeting itself is usually interesting, often with useful topics, but the first 45 minutes to an hour is usually a sales pitch for why you must join REIA, and how great the benefits are and how foolish you would be if you did not join. 

These would seem to be essential components.ThanksDavid Bruce

This will diminish the short term benefit as you would pay full taxes now on that contribution, but 12% growth compounded over 25-30 years would be a really huge pile of tax-free money from which to take distributions in your retirement years.

I know that a benefit of paying off a loan is increased cash flow, but I am curious how not paying down a loan can also generate cash. 

Considering that the only group sued more than landlords is doctors, I'd say the benefits of asset protection far outweigh the savings you are looking at. 

But you also benefit (historically speaking, only) from a higher capital appreciation rate than other markets. 

Does a 1031 exchange mean that we have to take the entire 155k and reinvest it to reap the benefits of the tax free exchange or are we only required to use the actual profits from the sale?

If you haven’t used all your VA loan benefits you could potentially use your second tier benefits on a new home and leave the first loan in place.

My answer would be no, but there are so many Owners out there who fall for it as a benefit to them.