Im looking at doing a 1031 exchange and purchasing a couple of row homes or even a multi unit back in MD. 

I mean take two months vacant at 1k each is 2k.. over 300 bucks a year increase will take them 6.5 years just to earn back what they lost.. not to mention the risks of letting homes sit vacant for a few months.. nothing good ever comes from a vacant rental.

You pay it back at simple interest prime plus 1%.  5 year amo.

Remember conventional guidelines will hit you with all the expenses, added back depreciation but only provide you with 75% of the total rental income to account for vacancy.

The ARV came back at 245k.

Then with that money you get your pay back your private lenders/hard money?

We won't be going back. 

Overall I definetly have this in the back of my mind, but agree with you that this could be a stretch and may be more advantageous to build reserves and save more $ for a down payment. 

Never looked back.

******************************Ok, here are my typical approaches to a complex assignment.1) determine the most important value characteristics within my subject market (location, school district, # of units, size, lot size, bedroom/bath count, remodeled, new build, specific style, other amenities, etc.)2) research available comparable sales (with those important characteristics found above) within the designated market area3) in the absence of recent good comparable sales, I will expand my search back in time, even 5 years (or more) if need be.