I truly appreciate your honest comment, which (unfortunately) confirms my concern, and provides further insight.The following site also has a nice overview of how safe, from a seller's perspective, are various payment methods: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Payment_methods (Note: I have not the faintest clue what a bitcoin is, but they seem to have the same problem that we have: safe electronic payment methods.)In summary, I conclude that there is no suitable electronic payment method for rent collection, that is governed by the rule of law rather than the judgement of private intermediaries the rules of which can be gamed, and that cannot be reversed at will by a smart "professional" renter.

Absent having an ability to close in their name and resell, "wholesaler" (really just an intermediary here) needs to engineer a better plan from the start.

Further, they couldn't care less about terms and definitions; what is important is that you attempt to match a note buyer with a note seller, and you are not a direct buyer, but an intermediary.

If you haven't already gotten in touch with a Qualified Intermediary, you may be too late for a 1031 anyway - you can't take any proceeds from the sale of the property or the 1031 is void.

If you go the FHA route, do remember that you will be paying PMI for the life of the loan, so you will eventually want to refi out into conventional, which means either the value increases due to improvements you make, the market, or paying the difference.For anyone considering a 1031, you should really work with a Qualified Intermediary before selling the property since they know the process and keep everything legit.  

The law allows a listing agent to act as an intermediary between the buyer and seller as long as written consent is obtained from both parties.

Their primary purpose seems to be offering title / lien searches of the properties being sold under municipal tax sales, and also they provide an aggregate list of those tax sales...they're basically and intermediary, so I'm pretty sure they are legitimate in what they do.  

Research local Qualified Intermediaries, they will be able to assist.

Most intermediaries are looking for 1 year as the IRS is less likely to ask questions about it.

People can lend, and borrow, without an intermediary.