The house would appreciate to +20k in today's market but I don't think the capital gains include those losses if I sold now, and on top of that I think I'd pay taxes on it too.

If you're selling a property for $100k, there may not be enough capital gain in it to justify a 1031.

The market is super competitive right now in Dallas so when you present your preapproval letter, some weight may be given to lenders that we know

My current plan is to read it twice, the first time to gain the exposure and get my feet under me, the second time will be slower and in parallel I'll start compiling all the recommended documents so that I'm ready to start looking for tenants.My concern is that my focus should be on finding deals and that I'm going off on tangents and getting worried about what ifs.

I am slowly gaining confidence as a result.I don’t see a lot of contract questions specifically in this forum.

If you are selling a triplex, 2 of the 3 units are investment property so they would not be protected from capital gain taxes.

QOF can be a great way to defer your current tax burden and exclude gains from the new property purchase.The big con is this is a very illiquid asset with a long-hold period.

To reduce capital gains?

This was exasperated when the socialist Labor Party took power in the 1950s, and raised capital gains to where the tax on ordinary income was, 89.9%.  

Try to do a 1031 Exchange to save capital gains taxes.