A gas fireplace requires a "chimney" that is no more stout or complicated than your dryer vent (actually there are ventless models out there). 

The more properties involved the more complicated the 1031 Exchange can get. 

I have a house I'd very much like to purchase but there a complication : This house was foreclosed on.

Little more complicated and you should use an attorney. 

You are over complicating the fundamentally simple act of buying a single small building as a residential rental.

One caveat I would add is that in rent controlled environments there is no discretion to raise rents to market levels later on, so the prudent landlord goes for the small rent increases that are available each year (in my jurisdiction these are never any greater than 2.5%).I think the advice about establishing what market rents are and then charging them is correct in general, however it can be a little more complicated than that.

The proposal seems overly complicated.

I know this is much more complicated than a few paragraphs, but has anyone else ran into a situation like this?

She also told me not to go with a "Big Bank" for my mortgage as this may be more complicated.

But when you have a three unit property, I would suspect that putting a tenant buyer in the property would be far more complicated because would probably need more than one unit filled in order to cash flow.