Does the oil bust mean they've gone though top dead center of the cycle, and are now heading down?  

If you do end up putting tile down on the floor it is imperative your floor is dead level and free of debris.

You are dead on with regards to the price range I was looking at though.

Ed,Technically I have not seen a drop dead date by which the IRS considers a 1031 definite for investment purposes and not resale purposes.However most of the attorneys and 1031 companies site case law as 1 year being safe with doing a 1031 and showing you were holding for investment.The IRS says you are either going for resale (no 1031) or holding for an investment (1031 allowed).What most do is keep 1031 exchanging and occasionally refi out some equity which is considered a loan and not taxable.Then when they pass away all the property is left to the heirs in a stepped up basis and the deferred gains will be wiped out.Not an expert but that seems to be the general understanding from what I have seen.

I hate to beat this dead horse, but this very topic has been the hottest one in our business.

Really, you often don't have to be dead-on accurate with your repairs - especially if you're starting offers are 10K or less than your max.

There is a dead tree (fairly massive size) right on the neighbor's side of the fence that is leaning toward my property.

If it was filed it may have been disolved through bankruptcy and since he is dead....well, the guy should foreclose if he has a valid lien.

"You can't beat a dead horse"

Though the numbers may not be dead on, it does give an idea of where the best value for your investment dollar is on real estate.