well I think if its owner occ and you buy up no need to 1031... and you would need to check if you lived in this unit 2 o f the last 5 years you probably have no tax due on sale. .as you get 250k tax free for single and 500k for married but do check with you tax advisor for you specific situation.PDX is a great rental market .. very much over looked in the US scheme of things

are they married? 

I am hoping (really I am) that you took the Sec 121 exemption mentioned in the previous comment and took the $250k (single) / $500k (married) of tax-free capital gains when you sold, since you lived in the property (assuming you lived there at least 24 months out of the previous 60).If you had used the 1031 and then, five years later, decided to sell the replacement property (not your stated scenario, but an important thing to note):Since you bought it and held it as an investment for five years, you could sell it through another 1031 and leapfrog into another investment property tax-free (there is no limit on how many 1031s you can execute). 

We ended up buying a second home in 2016 (and got married shortly thereafter), and were fortunate enough fund-wise to be able to do purchase our second home without selling the home in the central valley.

Most of the time, SFR purchases for married folks do not make good long-term rentals, for a variety of reasons (including emotional attachment). 

Ask your loan officer to explain it.As for interest rates, my brother got married in the early 80's.

It's been my primary residence from then up until next week.I've since got married and quadrupled my income but my wife and I are not sure where we want to live in 5 years, so we've decided to a rent a 2 bedroom apartment in the area for a year to have flexibility.I plan to rent out my studio for $1,200 a month (taxes and fees are $400/month so great cash flow).I also have about $100k sitting in a savings account that I would like to put into another rental property, most likely a 2 family home in the NJ area.

They get married and become landlords - boom!

I am married with two kids, a dog, and cat.

It is a mistake on your part to rent to adults that are not married unless each can afford the unit on their own.