And without looking at these specific emails you mentioned (and the amount that the lawyer billed you), it's hard to say if you got overbilled or not.

I have a feeling this is where you are at.Sometimes the Alderman's office or community group will want to see what you are "proposing" to build before you can get their support and actually get the Zoning Change approved; however, technically architectural drawings are not reuired (by the Zoning Board of Appeals) for the map amendment process.Feel free to contact me directly if you would like me to look into your specific property in more detail. 

The process is specific to the municipality you are in, from what I have read Seattle is not landlord friendly so if it were me I would hire an attorney who was experienced in the process.In Virginia the process is simple enough to do it yourself - and I have a few times.

Louisville has many 10s, 9s, and 8s.The entire state has very low crime.Here are resources that'll help too: usa.com, usa.com/rank/, city-data.com, https://www.zillow.com/research/data/You can also go on to zillow and check under the for rent section and check individual properties for how long they have been on the zillow market.From scrubbing the internet for all this data to find vacancy rates, I'd have to say Louisville has low a vacancy rate, which is good, yet how much so depends on the specific neighborhood.

Happy to answer any specific questions that you may have.

It specifically says that they (the seller) will pay all of the costs of the 1031. 

Just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience or if this is something specific to this insurance company. 

What advice would you give to someone just starting out, specifically within Maricopa County?

Either way, the answer is that it is only beneficial under very specific circumstances. 

any specific areas you would consider going high tier?