He’s extremely knowledgeable with the area and comps but has limited work with investors so we want to listen to the numbers in addition to realtor advice.

In addition to the REIAs, keep an eye out on these forums like Ryan said for local BP meetups.

These are professionals with additional training and a stricter code of ethics.

You do get to continue the depreciation on that basis and if you purchase more than what you sell you can add that as additional depreciable basis.But if you ever sell without a 1031 or dying and you will have to recapture all depreciation throughout the 1031s you've done. 

Additionally, they have restarted the public water/sewer expansion project and will have most of the city on pubic utility within the next 10 years.

It would give me the opportunity to inspect the property and ensure there are no other issues.This is not a scalable practice.

Having a tenant ensures that you have some cash coming in upon acquisition (while you may not know if the screening was done properly).

Obtain a few properties for some additional cashflow at retirement?

I’m admittedly up on TX contracts, but in general, the final walkthrough by the seller is to ensure nothing has materially changed since the contract/inspection.

When in another market  I have folks who do not return calls or can not give me additional details, I mind!