I'm using this forum as a starting point to gain knowledge and meet new people.

RE investing as discussed ini this forum is not a passive investment.

Or that you are learning the US market after gaining some prior experience in Australia?

since Congress accepts one year and a day for the definition of a long term capital gain that is used as a basis for the 1031 two tax years.

Most REO sellers are institutions that do not want to see the buyer changing before the deal closes.If you are expecting to buy, close escrow and then later sell there is no issues other than short term gains are taxed at a higher rate.

In fact, if you want to avoid Capital gains tax, you have to keep the apartment 15 years.

If you have passive income you can buy your time back.You need cash and equity in your property to have the margins to weather temporary downturns or unexpected repairs.

If it costs me $12K in (paid) labor, versus ZERO or even $6K to do it myself I have to gain one heck of a lot of "leverage" to make that pay.

I have decided that real estate investing is going to be the tool I use to gain financial freedom.

I have held the property at times in order to qualify for long term capital gains treatment, that would be hard to do if I was paying hard money rates.