Now, we are landlords of that property with great tenants and slowly but surely improving values.The goal is to acquire our next property, hopefully a flip, at the end of the year.

The videography skills are improving, and are rescued some by the editing software.

I would do all the capital improvements as you mentioned so  maintenance is not a factor down the road especially in your cold area of Buffalo

Your cap gains/loss disregards the depreciation when you sell, since it's recaptured at 25% separately, so you're calculating the loss gain off the$155k, plus capital improvements.  

@Wayne Brooks I was thinking of expenses like appliances, landscaping, other improvements that are not required to make the property ready but are added.On a related note, what if you cannot get a W9?

What would an "improved" cap rate possibly be?  

But there are a couple of ways that the improvement costs could be rolled into a 1031 depending on your specific situation.

Also depends on what he is trying to sell for versus the rental amount ... hope that helps.

It's not so much that what you're doing is improving inventory (because clearly you are) and yes - intuitively you would think that you would be exempt from sales tax.However, the issue isn't whether it's inventory or not, the issue is whether the end user is charged sales tax.  

Hey @Claire Batraville, I would definitely agree with @Lucas Machado.I'm sure you can find condo's in that price range, but you'll want to make sure your agent is doing good due diligence:You'll want to see: the condo budget, any planned HOA fee increases or assessments, upcoming improvements, delinquency ratio, etc...