Was last year abnormal or you think the normMy guess is you will spend a lot more than $200k on an attorney with benefits etc. but if it cuts down in expenses it definitely is something I would consider and even if it costs a little more, having control with having someone in house does reduce unknown costs and risks. 

No reason to spend $1000-$1200 on a typical 1031 QIMathew 

I’m considering consulting an attorney to explore my options, but my budget is limited.

My primary business is owning a wealth management company, and is where I enjoy spending my time.

With less experienced or just poor planning operators, it isn't uncommon that they spend years distributing all the cash out to the owners, and then the time comes for a multi million dollar refresh to maintain the hotel brand, and no one wants to cough up the money back into the entity.

If you find that there's nothing that you like or would be willing to live in with your budget and location, AND you had the flexibility of being able to move and keep your job or you're willing to job hunt in different states, THEN explore different areas.

To continue with the 8-unit example, you again end up spending many multiples of these costs to build a comparable portfolio of single family properties.Another disadvantage of single family properties is that there is only one tenant per building and if they stop paying or if there is a vacancy, the entire cost of that property is on you and your wallet until you can fill that vacancy and get the rent coming in again.

If I wanted to spend an hour doing it, I could probably put together a list of at least 50 cities where you can still buy housing for $100/sf or less.

This means you wouldn’t need to spend time managing properties or building a team, which is perfect given your time constraints.

Every time I change cleaners, I spend at least 3-5 hours retraining on my processes and expectations and even then things are missed.