@Jared Garfield I hope you write more about what insights you are gaining from the IMN conference, especially about the direction they (conference attenders and presenters) believe the economy is headed in the next 12-18 months towards real estate, single family and multi family in particular. 

Welcome to the site @Alexander MartinezIf you sold it for a profit you could expect to pay capital gains taxes.

We've come across a duplex that we're interested in purchasing (placed an offer on it of $137.5k), where the owner is a real estate investor at the tail end of their career and is planning on shedding their portfolio ...

If the clock is already ticking you may be forced into the "ok deal" category or just having to realize your taxable gains. 

@Tim Jonasson Wow I have always avoided land leases, but I didn't realize the holder had so much to gain at the expiration of the lease!

Just ridiculous and based purely upon corporate gain in my opinion the liberals really have a way of secretively taking care of the the corporate agendas.

My strategy is to buy and hold, and hopefully gain enough passive income to replace earned income at some point.

Do I want to buy the house for more that $450,000 (if I'm given the choice) so that when I sell it and there's a gain I won't get nailed in taxes? 

If we decide to sell at the end of the 5 years we will most likely do a 1031 exchange into another property so we will not have to pay any capital gains tax.  

My partner, Hannah Eans, and I have been working on gaining knowledge about real estate investing since November.