I occasionally will get one and restore it as a labor of love, but they are all in very rough shape. 

That's the challenge with doing a 1031 with multiple properties.

While running a large group of small landlords in Philly, i have visibility into the full realm of challenges that new investors face - and some are quite overwhelming and totally unexpected because they jumped in without fully understanding what they jumped into. 

Other group homes for abused, veterans, and mental challenged usually have less opposition. 

@Shawn NofzigerHi Shawn,I came across your post and while I am a long way from Lansing, I work with a ton of new and aspiring investors and the challenges they have getting from idea to action. 

I'm not sure if you're in the flatter northern half of the State or the hilly south half and/or if a berm could be built in the backyard or who, if anyone, has a yard that joins yours.The challenge of course, if finding the right person.

Challenge is that I have an exclusive agreement with the seller because they wanted to list it, but changed their mind.  

As a non-resident, I’m finding the process challenging due to factors like high upfront costs, foreign buyers’ taxes, and financing limitations.I’d love to hear your advice or experiences regarding:•Strategies to manage the high initial costs and foreign buyers’ taxes.

If you SLOWLY add variables after you have solved the same problem a couple times it gets easier with less risk.I sadly had a very hard time with FOCUS and switched things up on nearly every project, creating new challenges.  

Maybe have a decent sized pool of cash to take care of the occasional roof repair or personal expense, but almost entirely in real estate?