Does anyone have any idea on how to monetize these barns aside from general storage on craigslist?

The fact that you are thinking of other ways to monetize tells me you might be headed in the right direction.  

He spends a small fortune on off-market advertising, has an acquisition manager, project managers, designers, etc on staff, so monetizing everything he can is important. 

Neither appreciation nor depreciation has much effect on the process.The best part is that you have little competition because the vast majority of investors look down their noses at ‘trailers’ and really don’t know how to monetize this lucrative niche.After 20 years of being in the business I’ve learned a little :)

Why are you even thinking about 1031 when’ there is almost no gain. 1031, monetized installed sale or DST are great when the gain is substantial.

In continuing to think of new ways to add additional value to my apartment buildings, I wanted to get peoples thoughts on installing solar panels and finding a way to monetize this.

When you couple this with a monetization loan, you can essentially defer the taxes on the capital gains for 30 years while still getting cash at closing that can be redeployed elsewhere.

Buyer's agents typically represent you at no cost (commission is oftentimes paid for by the seller) AND they'll give you MLS access, off-market deal access, transaction coordination, etc.Holding your license and gaining MLS access is associated with fees - MLS Dues, licensing fees, continuing education fees, broker desk fees, etc.On the other hand, if you are looking to monetize your licensee status by helping folks buy and sell RE, you can earn extra income and potentially make this a career.I began as a part-time agent and was able to quit my 9-5 job after about 18 months.Best of luck to you moving forward!

Unless you are a builder or realtor you can’t really monetize this strategy as the house needs to be built so the 3.75 million you referenced sounds like a big money maker but the house probably cost 2.5 million or more to build and likely took more than a year.

After considering PITI, cap. expenditures, repairs, vacancy, we were shooting for $250/mo net, which is achievable, but based on our appraisal, we can take out alot more money and have a zero net.