I’m established in my career and not looking to make RE my full time but I don’t have a ton of capital and I enjoy modeling and underwriting and being hands on with management so the passive/syndication route isn’t an option.

.$26 for the kindle edition could be some of the best money spent on your RE business.  

As long as you meet your reinvestment requirements it doesn't matter how you allocate the proceeds.Now (now not needed) In your case if you"re selling for $800k (after closing costs and commissions) and maybe you decide you would like to purchase two properties for $400k.

Agreed with the above posts,  for $500 or less you can likely get a RE attorney  to get your ducks in a row to do the eviction properly.  

If you didn't buy solely off the fact you needed to 1031, then did tax re-assessment get you?

It also is helpful to have a California LLC in case you ever sell that property and move into another state so that you do not need to form a new LLC altogether with new operating agreement, just re-register in the new state as a new foreign LLC.

A great way to start is by attending RE events and joining a local investors association.

We are not white knights we are in business to make money on RE  not a charity or social workers.. so we do want to keep this in perspective you did what you needed to do so you could make a profit bottom line.

It also is helpful to have a California LLC in case you ever sell that property and move into another state so that you do not need to form a new LLC altogether with new operating agreement, just re-register in the new state as a new foreign LLC.

That fund has distributed 6% since inception (quarterly) and invests primarily in commercial (not residential) RE.