On February 4, 2020 I attended a buy and hold RE investing seminar and subsequently my wife, Hannah, and I changed the trajectory and goals of our life that day.

The sale out of your LLC and the sale out of your personal name and then the subsequent purchase in your personal name would qualify as long as the LLC is a single member LLC and disregarded entity with you as the sole member. 

I’ve considered The idea of just letting this one slide in order to alleviate the stress.

Keep looking for opportunities within this deal and others in order to bring value and subsequently, those rents. 

Read section 21 of the CA Residential Purchase Agreement (assuming you transacting on this document).I've not been through mediation or arbitration myself, but if the buyer removed all contingencies when he submitted the offer, then cancelled, AND you suffered actual damages (a subsequently reduced sale price), your case seems pretty iron-clad to me.I believe you can enter mediation and arbitration without a lawyer, so I say go for it!

There may not be a tax lien of record if the IRS didn't record one but if there is, I believe it would attach to the land and any subsequent owner's interest would be subject to it. 

Accordingly, a parking transaction where both the relinquished property and the replacement property are owned by the same person, or by a person and his single-member LLC (SMLLC), will not qualify for like-kind exchange treatment.As with the installment sale rules, disqualification of a like-kind exchange between related parties does not occur if the parties can establish that neither the original exchange nor the subsequent disposition had a tax avoidance motive [IRC Sec. 1031(f)(2)(C)].

Scott's Estimating Rehab Costs book to estimate the cost of replacing the front door and two sliding doors in a townhouse in Ashburn, VA.

It includes the opportunity cost of lost rents, the average repair costs to put the house back into great rental shape and the subsequent tenant placement fees that you will incur if you work with a property manager. 

There were times when maintenance was needed (new shower head, sliding closet doors, fresh paint from bags hitting walls, etc.), but we had a handy man who took care of all that for us.