A few suggestions/thoughts:- Ask your agent to provide you recent sales (last 12 months) of deals that would have met your criteria, starting with deals they were the broker on.

One is having the tax status of qualified real estate professional, which basically means that your primary job is on real estate.

Also find out if they have a move out list for you to check and what the expectations are (ie I expect any carpet to be professionally cleaned and want a receipt, over is cleaned, if you had a pet any poop in the yard to be picked up, etc).  

Austin, avoid this company at any cost.Do not buy anything from them, it's the worst turn key provider I've dealt with.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Did you have a professional inspection done and have you really gone over it to project what other repairs may be needed in the future?

There you can get the best financing terms, and work on a timeline that is more forgiving.Happy to provide more insight!

Professionally, my background is in software sales but my overall goal is to transition full-time into real estate investment / rental property managementI'll be looking to acquire my first property via 1031 at some point this year.

In fact many of our properties are done that way - we get a signed contract and then turn the package over to the closing attorney and move on to the next one until closing day.Your local REIG can recommend some good closing attorneys / title companies and they will usually be happy to walk you through the process and even provide you with the forms you need to get the deal locked up and closed.

I like to personally use an LLC for my investing but it can be different if you are in a higher tax bracket so you would probably need a tax professional for strategy!