I am taking a HELOC so I obviously do not have the cash lying around to pay it back in full. 

You can use tax records to look up the owner of a property and confirm that the person on the phone owns it (however they can lie about their name.)Its not to late to have a friend call and pretend to be a different landlord and ask these questions as well.

In addition to the potential increase in cashflow by doing a 1031 Exchange, it would give me peace of mind as this property is the only one in my portfolio that is exposed to a high risk of flooding during a natural disaster as it is located in a very low lying area.I am happy to provide additional numbers/details if there is anything I am leaving out.

Well, I know I didn't sign it so that means that the tenant lied when he signed the form and misrepresented himself as the owner of the house. 

is a lying, cheatIng, POS...  

I have a little chicken or the egg issue though - part of the resource I was going to use to look for deals was the MLS, however, I can't get access to it until I work with an agent.  

I'm not going to lie I went in like it was my forever home and paid 300k for it..

Another had hidden foundation issues, that were obvious from the inside, just not from the outside.You will sign all sorts of lies on the paperwork--you inspected the property, etc. 

Unfortunately, my rental has been more of a tax write off this year because of some poor construction chickens coming to roost.

My rationale is this: KFC will sell its "Secret Recipe" when no one is buying their chicken.