@Levi Davis We went through a nearly identical situation last year.

This plan does not avoid capital gains or keep his identity secret.

We don't flip here in California as out prop 13 penalizes people trading often we pay $15,000 less in property taxes as an identical building sold next door 5 months ago. all improvements are an expense at this point but appreciation has over $1,000 per day on just one property.

Essentially identical to a sale with owner financing but the deed stays with the seller.Yes, you can 1031 into such an arrangement as long as the contract has been written so that in the terms all of the burdens and benefits of ownership have transferred to you. 

I originally went to college for Culinary Nutrition, but soon learned the rat race wasn’t for me.

The neighborhood has some identical 4-plexes on it that are currently renting between $600-$650.

It also would be a weird letter to send to a lot of the duplexes here in town, because most of them are in subdivisions full of identical properties.At this point I think it's basically gambling unless you're committed to mailing the same addresses 8-10 times minimum over the course of several months.

I was a bit confused by this, since it's clearly built as four identical apartments - each with a matching layout and full kitchen plus a main entryway with a shared staircase.

Engineered wood is more readily available, budget friendly, and absolutely beautiful because it looks and functions almost identically to solid hardwood.

It was originally build as a mother in law property with two identical 1200sqrft 2 Bedroom/1 Bath units.