I love BP and have learned and applied several good pieces of information from this site.

If you aren't married it's 250k.Look up section IRS section 121.This better and easier than a 1031, however 1031 is for a investment property (that you don't live in as primary residence) because section 121 doesn't apply there.

I wonder if this law applies to a new owner who intends to occupy one of the units while rehabbing the other (house hacking).Any comments are much appreciated.Mike Evans

@Gregory A.A 10% early withdrawal penalty will apply to the portion of withdrawalsfrom your Roth TSP that are attributable to earnings if you separate from your federal job before the year in which you turn 55.Contributions should be penalty and tax free.

You only have to pay taxes on the $5k “boot” I believe, and I think it applies to the recapture first. 

Hi Bain, while i personally have never lived in Houston, I did join in on the efforts to help people get to safety after Hurricane Harvey, and to me, that one natural disaster would be enough to convince me to not move there for real estate investment.

Try to meet in person most of the time because naturally humans put more trust into someone they physically see, body language and a lot easier to build rapport with.

We had good jobs, zero debt (including our home/land/1 rental property), and I had just completed my undergrad degree program with no specific plan for how to apply it; there is certainly nothing wrong with any of those things but needless to say, we simply wanted more.  

The couple was going to apply together but one of them ended up saying that she was not going to move in until the following year.

@Zabrina HortonWhile one can partner with their IRA or solo 401k to invest in real estate by pooling their funds in an LLC, for example, very specific rules apply including not receiving any type of commission and not using debt financing.