1031 in 31 days? Or Reverse 1031 and cross my fingers?

[Timothy Stewart]

Hi BiggerPockets, 

     Tim here with a complex situation (at least to a rookie investor such as myself). I am a 24 year old college student in Idaho, and am currently working on my first real estate investment deal. My in-laws tasked me a few weeks ago with finding a good investment for them. After considering their situation I advised them that they should sell their recently paid off rental property in Houston, TX. They bought the home for around $60,000 years ago and it is worth upwards of $160,000 today. 

The reasons that they should sell are:

1. The property is not renting for enough to be worth holding on to. 

2. It recently had a jump in value because it was not flooded during Hurricane Harvey. 

3. After consulting others much wiser than I, the consensus has been that the home value has peaked and will begin to decline with the neighborhood. 

So time for it to get complicated. The seller of the property I am purchasing has to have cash in hand by January 12 (he is 1031 all four of his properties to close on a 14-unit rental on the 19th of January, and this is the last property he has left). The seller has multiple offers, but I was able to sway him to sign with my in laws due to the ease of him dealing with an all cash purchase. The next part is a slight stress relief,  with Houston being a hot market right now the average time on the market for homes in the area is 27 days. 

I have looked into doing a deferred like-kind exchange (reverse 1031), but would then have to figure out how to come up with the money to buy the investment property by January 12th still. 

I have 30 days to solve this. Step one is to get the house on the market, which is going to be completed tomorrow. 

Wisdom,  experience, ideas, or solutions? 

[Wayne Brooks]

Dave Foster may have some ideas.