. - unless the property is a complete gut job we pay for a home inspection during our due diligence- we only hire GC’s.  

Also look at how much the house has increased in price-if it has increased a lot, you may want to sell it to avoid paying capital gains which will kick in if you sell it a few years down the road.

To answer your original question about making it more palatable for owners....you need to pay them for the service of providing you with debt. 

I’ve never done a 1031 before and every Google search along the lines of “retroactive 1031 exchange” is about reversing the sale of a house you just bought, via a 1031.I’m talking about buying a house weeks before your old rental sells, and somehow having that whole transaction fit under one 1031 exchange.Last thing I would want to do is pay pay the new property’s downpayment in cash, and then turn around and find out it doesn’t qualify for a 1031 since I bought it before selling the first house, and then also having to go buy another house with the 1031 funds, and never recoup my own cash I used on the new rental.Hope that makes sense, I will be happy to clarify if it doesn’t.

Look into ways to pay for it, check everything carefully, and figure out how much money you might make.

You'll pay more than you think. 

Section 8 is a tool for landlords, NOT a cure-all.Yes, a landlord can sometimes get higher rent via S8 than they can from cash paying tenant, but only in Class C- and D areas.

You would likely use the proceeds to pay off the HML, leaving you with a new mortgage (which you paid to get) and a HELOC payment (and possibly a residual balance with the HML). 

Worst case, you pay for the eviction and get rid of the headache.

If they were paying market rent, things may be slightly more palatable.