Would you be willing to clean up a unit during a turnover? 

I would say the site is about 3/4 of an acre  about 100 by 300... mobiles are old dumps by and large.. but inside a few I looked at the folks kept them clean..

1031 is complicated and expensive and while the idea is good the reality my be that you are better off just paying tax and getting a clean basis on the next property.  

I'd start with a phone call to the tenants that would end with "If you are out by Friday,  apartment is clean and I never hear from/see you again,  I won't contact (insert threat here:your lawyer the press DCFS, LA child service,  all of the above  etc)" 

Not only that, you interrupt the sellers lives when they clean their houses, pack up kids and dogs for you to ‘look’.  

No damage, a clean, professional job, but lesson learned for next time.

Hi alloccasionally (ok, 90% of the time) we have to have carpets steam cleaned after tenant leaves.

Painting, carpet cleaning, general cleaning, and door latch replacement?

Promising one lessee rather than 4-5 non or slow paying ones.Going in and cleaning house, creating cashflow, and after 1-2 years, executing on the option and either taking the property subject to or having the seller carryback.Am I living in naive bizzaro-land or have any of you been able to structure a deal like this.Brian, are you listening?

I'll start on my approach.Disclose this to your broker before doing anything, you will be buying, taking title to avoid a net listing arrangement and disclosing your position.Value each property and see what the income is.Your offer to take them all in one deal certainly saves the seller time fooling with peeling these off one at a time.Make sure you disclose you are a realtor and that you would be acting as an investor, but in so doing, still assisting her making it a clean transaction...The initial idea is to buy them all and thereby putting you in a psoition to payoff those properties sold with the proceeds going to her.