Some of these techniques are questionable in court (not to say they're not great ideas).  

Yes, you definitely have to set that up in advance - doing a 1031 is complicated and involves using a 3rd party to hold funds, various timelines for identifying the exchange property, and lots of other restrictions.There's a ton of content on the site about the details - search the forums or the blog and you'll find it.

Also, has anyone used any of these other techniques mentioned above personally and if so any feedback would be awesome!  

There is a different level of liability risk involved in note investing vs ownership of properties. 

This is acceptable as long as the holder of the SDIRA is not related to the borrower and otherwise not involved in the project either directly or indirectly (i.e. the holder of the SDIRA does not own a company which is handling part of the renovation). 

I actually flip fire damaged properties, so as @Brandon Sturgill said that isn't a deal breaker--just get the right people involved.

But the guy that owned the place was a great salesmen and taught me some life long techniques for closing.

This would be in addition to a CPA who typically is most involved during tax season and for tax purposes.

They will do the "same" marketing techniques for all their clients, a tweak here and a tweak there...SEO and most forms of marketing should be done in house.

My plan is to gain as much knowledge on real estate investing by reading books, going to events, and meeting great people involved in real estate.