Sell SFR to current tenants &1031 into multi-family w/o realtor??

[Josh Splawn]

I have been wanting to scale up my RE portfolio by selling my out of state single family property to my current long term tenants and doing a 1031 exchange into a multi family also out of state. I intend to pass the savings of not using a realtor and not needing to do any rehab, on to them. I will have the multi-family selling realtor help facilitate the 1031 exchange. This whole process seems within my scope of abilities at this point in my RE investing career but I am a little unclear on how to time everything. If the house sells before i identify a property, is it then too late to do a 1031 when i do find the property I want? Or if I do find what I want, tie it up with earnest money, and the SFR sale falls through, then what? I'm also still trying to find what markets I want to invest in. I'm looking at Akron OH., Albuquerque N.M., and the Boise area. Thoughts?