rich,You may want to research the program ROBS or rollovers for business startups.  

Be sure you understand what their leasing fees are, what lease renewals cost, what evictions cost, if they charge any maintenance markups, are there any fees for vacancy times, and if they charge any other fees.Pro-tip: Ask how often they evaluate the rental price at the end of a lease before renewing at same price or just letting it roll over to month to month.

I noticed that we could use the 1035 form to roll over profits from a sale to the next property to potentially shield from tax liability but I am still studying that area.

There is a maximum yearly contribution that you can put into it (for employee contributions and profit sharing).You can also roll over fund from your IRA and maybe other 401, 403, 457 plans that you have if the sponsor authorize it (usually after separation of employment only).

A personal loanYou give them a first mortgage on the propertyYou make monthly interest payments to themBalloon principal in 3-5 years(or roll over to another term)Simple dealNo partnerships, no investors, just people loaning you the money. 

Yes, as long as you use that profit on your next home purchase (which you live in) within X time.No, this is the old law under Section 1034 of the Internal Revenue Code where you could rollover your gain into a new primary residence. 

The closing is on Friday.I've been marketing the property and have some applicants plus one rollover tenant from the old landlord.Should I focus on renting the house for the summer to occupy immediately and then worry about getting students for the school year?

For example, there are some custodians out there that do not cooperate in processing the transfer out of the IRA LLC as direct-rollover to another IRA or a 401k even though they are required to do so.

To do so, you will need to find a custodian allowing alternative investments, open new account with them and fund it with the rollover from your existing IRA.The income from the property owned by the IRA belongs to the IRA.

You can also set up a self-directed Traditional IRA and fund it with a rollover from your 401k (if eligible for rollover).