Your 1031e intermediary will know the correct answer to this. 

These are the people you want to get to know and form a relationship with, @Timothy Johnson.Brokers are intermediaries and make or arrange loans between parties.

The fee for the third party intermediary was about $1000.

Feel free to reach out to me and/or I can refer you to my wife Whitney who is a qualified intermediary at Above & Below 1031. 

If these two situations aren’t true, they will inform the seller upfront that they will only close if they can flip the contract and that they are not the end buyer, merely an intermediary, so that the seller will understand that by signing the purchase agreement they are actually only giving the buyer an “option” to purchase the property IF they can find someone to pay more. 

2) Does my realtor work with an intermediary?

There are time lines involved and irs will want you to have whats called a qualified intermediary to handle transaction so when you sell property your not putting taxable proceeds into your pocket without paying taxes on them.

@Mat Trenchard,  The assignment of contract rights for both sale and purchase to the qualified intermediary is a key component of a successful 1031 exchange.  

I have the check but I am not sure if I need an intermediary or not.

Other than the 1031 requirements and the need to us a qualified intermediary to handle that part of it (we must be involved prior to the closing of your sale) it's a regular - search, contract, buy process.