Tax advice on property exchange

[Jeffrey Haapapuro]

I had gotten into real estate with the intent of acquiring rental properties and didn't have intentions of flipping.  As it turns out, last year I sold a rental property that I had owned for about 10 months and the money made from the sale was used to purchase another property.  At the time I had assumed (or hoped) that since I was reinvesting I was going to be able to avoid some tax on my profits.  Now I have learned that I may not be that fortunate, as I read more about the 1031.  But my questions is...even though I didn't use an intermediary I did line up the closing of the sale of the property I was selling and the one I was purchasing at the same time and place and the money made on the sale had never came into my possesion, is there any way to avoid the tax that comes with a short-term sale?