1031 Tax Exchange and ultimately keep the cash in a bank account?

[Chris Heeren]

So I'm selling one of my rental properties for about a $15K gain in order to put some extra reserves into my pocket to help support buying more properties. I wasn't planning on doing a 1031 exchange as I need the cash in a bank account and not as equity tied up into a property. However, I'm trying to figure out if this strategy will work:

I am all in the property for $30K and am selling it for $50K with about a $15K net gain after closing costs, can I 1031 this into another property selling for $30K if I end up paying all cash for it? ( I was told you can only roll this into a larger valued property - however, I'm not clear on if that is the case or if it simply needs to be able to support 100% of the proceeds from the exchange). I would use the $15K gain from the original sale plus another $15K of my own cash to purchase the new property.  This new property is worth about $50K and I would hope to then refinance the new property and put a $35K mortgage on it about 2-3 months down the road. I've now pulled 100%+ of my capital back out of it including the $15K that was tax deferred.  If that process worked I would still be able to have the $15K in a bank account and successful deferred the profit from the sale.

What part about this process may not work? I tried asking a lawyer but they didn't seem to grasp what I was attempting to do. He simply said you can't keep cash that you are trying to 1031 into another property which lead me to believe he just didn't understand how I buy properties.