I love the idea of hedging against inflation with something like holding my reserves (or a portion thereof) in gold, thank you.

In regards to your 1st scenario please elaborate on how you think an experienced investor would go in and do the deal and make it work.As for your 2nd scenario the seller "saving their credit" is total fool's gold.

And it can be from real estate, Bitcoin, gold, any capital gain, not just real estate like 1031.

When everyone's mining for gold sell the shovels.

I say most part because there are exceptions like gold / silver, land banking and development. 

A good contractor is worth their weight in gold, and they're very hard to find.

If you can snag a property with separate metering, then you're essentially buying a duplex with free standing units (with residential low down financing), and that's worth its weight in gold. 

A solid financial reputation can be like gold.

He has a heart of gold but his life is almost always having some crisis going on with getting into debt with bad choices or wanting to change jobs etc.

You think about the Richest Man in Babylon, one of the primary ideas is "protect thy gold."