In order to defer all taxes you must purchase at least as much as your net sale (contract price less commissions and costs of closing) and you must use all of the net proceeds (net sales amount less debt pay off) in the next purchase or purchases.  

One may have more money to invest, another may have debt they need to pay.

I've been a buy and hold investor for about 3 years, together we own 4 properties (including my home, which will get rented eventually) and aside from those four mortgages, we are totally debt free.

I also have no debt.

So, needless to say I am not in possession of my exact offer dates and info.

But the key is that it does not affect your Debt-to-income ratio.But I'd say pull it out and start buying properties!!!

You could refinance (no taxes on debt) and use the funds to purchase another rental.

Another measure of risk is debt coverage ratio.

We had around $50,000 in hand so we decided to put $45,000 towards getting out of debt and set $5,000 aside for our next project.

They don't look at tax returns or debt to income ratio to qualify -- basically, good credit and whether the property is rentable/numbers make sense.Any thoughts, suggestions, criticisms would be greatly appreciated.TIA,Manuel