Pretty ingenious, actually, and certainly just.

The photos of Cancun looked pretty flooded, but I don't know the geography there.

However dependent upon taxable income you could get away with a pretty low tax bill due to favorable capital gains tax rates.Be sure to work with a qualified intermediary and a tax professional to ensure you comply with all 1031 exchange regulations and to be sure you keep basis correct as all a 1031 does is defer your gain.Happy to help run some numbers or do some basic analysis for you if you would like. 

As far as my strategy I do find that In my market (Salt lake city, Utah) the housing prices are pretty expensive.

I am usually pretty clear that anonymity is not possible. https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/1098937-wyomi...

Seems pretty standard, VA isn't as tied to credit scores as conventional would be. 

Joshua Tree has been pretty tough for the last couple years @Sri S.

This is pretty common.

I got my damage fixed, but you know that contractor make a pretty dime.

So, while this property is not "printing" money like mid-west markets, this seems to be a pretty good deal here.