Beware of these motivated renters, do your due diligence (understand why they have to move, their circumstances, etc.) in order to mitigate your risk.As for having properties in the same area, I'm in favor of this strategy!

My question for this community is: what mitigation strategies do you know of to prevent smell coming into the unit? 

It's those maniacs that buy homes cash via quit claim deed off of craigslist that really get screwed.Make sure your property manager is a licensed real estate brokerage.Google Clayton Morris and/or Morris Invest for a cautionary tale of what not to do when buying turnkey real estateUnderstand you can not eliminate all risk, only mitigate it.

Make sure to get a wind mitigation report.

We plan to hold our property for the long term which mitigates that risk in my mind as it's unlikely we'll be forced to sell during a downturn.

Retail tenants can go BK sometimes fairly suddenly even if the risk is mitigated and proper due diligence is taken. 

I actually spoke to a friend this morning who does flood mitigation (and therefore had to cancel a lunch appointment).  

Anyone have any experience in mitigating drainage and flooding issues?

Unless the seller is motivated, you may not be able to chop off almost 50% of the price without some kind of mitigating factor. 

The 1031 exchange can be a powerful strategy to mitigate the tax issue.