I believe having a mentor that has achieved what you hope to achieve can be extremely beneficial, and I am willing to work my butt off for free in exchange.

It's extremely unlikely that you can find below market value that doesn't need work.

I am a high school teacher and both children who were born in the United States have earned strait A's in spite of the challenges that extreme poverty and fear that their parents could be deported present.

They are extremely competitive and you’ll see a lot of the same names always popping up on those listings.

The area seems to have extremely high-paying jobs or service industry paying jobs with not much in between (other than your teachers/nurses/etc).

Extremely busy the next 30 days, may be able to find time to dot and express my opinion after February, haha...

That's extremely convenient.

You could identify a number of properties that you purchase in cash to complete your 1031 while buying just enough with leverage to satisfy the overall reinvestment requirementsOnce this is done your 1031 is complete. 

Make sure after conservative projections you're satisfied with the potential income - it should be significantly more than a LTR.  

Value add is an extremly poweful strategy if deployed in the right asset in the right market, and with a solid business plan.