They're pretty dry, but reading about every single cost for every imaginable improvement item was very illuminating for me when I first started out.

I haven't read all the rules for a 1031 but I imagine a limitation, if there is one, would be a required holding time before the property is eligible for a 1031.

I imagine Washington is just as expensive.Now I am focusing on out of state rentals simply because my business model can't scale and I don't want to be landlord for 100+ college kids sharing rooms lol. 

I'd imagine that replacing all the drywall is not going to be insanely more expensive that replacing half of it, but no idea what supply of material is, nor install labor.  

If you ran the rest of the numbers, I would imagine your offer price will be much lower than the $175k asking price.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3742-Avondale-A...I asked their Senior Portfolio Strategist, Phil Alexander about this and he responded with the following:"I did not realize you were intending to live there... that is the only reason I can reasonably imagine the high quality (or not) of the schools would be an issue.

As you can imagine, where there's money, there's good schools.   

The sump pump emptied adjacent to the foundation - water poured back into the basement flooding it with over 6" of water.

Yonkers is still years away from really turning around, but there are definitely signs there (money is pouring into the waterfront area, easy access to the city, etc.).

I purchased a small home with a gravity furnace roughly 20 years ago and the realtor at the time suggested requesting replacement and I'm still happy I didn't as the heat was silent, comfortable, and required very little maintenance, with a replacement furnace only expected to last 15 years at a $3-4k cost it's hard to imagine why replacing a furnace that's been trouble free for 80 years and uses no filters or electricity to save maybe $30-50 in gas 3 months out of the year is the commonly suggested advice