Does the 1031 have to be exchanged for the same type of property (I plan on going from duplexes to single family homes in Chicago). 

I have contemplated putting in a small RV park (40-ish spots), but am a bit wary of the massive amount of ongoing work to manage / maintain such a facility, which I would have to hire someone else to do.

I plan on going to some of the subgroups since it is a smaller group and less intimidating so it will be easier for me to meet people and network.

I ran into an architect renovating a house that used to belong to a family I knew as a kid and he popped the top and did an ultra modern renovation on it now worth $750k!

But it is an extreme ongoing problem that is really unfortunate for everyone in the building.

Be very careful taking advice off the internet, RE requires an on going education to stay compliant and profitable.

However when I ran his background check, he was successfully sued for rent just a year ago.

While I'm considering the Bay Area (within 1-2 hr driving distance), the numbers I ran hardly work out so I'm open to investing remotely as well (currently looking into Dallas/Plano or Austin).

Or even negotiating an agreed percentage... to get leads emailed periodically, as an ongoing thing??

Matthew Rollo I would've offer in that discount range too, but the issue is that I ran a check of the property through the local MLS and it looks like the wholesaler got this property off the MLS and is subsequently trying to wholesale it.