In this scenario, the wholesaler will just collect an assignment fee, possibly some up front, the rest @ close.In this case, if it were myself, I would provide my POF to show that I'm a qualified buyer for the price I am offering, regardless of my intentions, and will explain to listing agent the "and/or assigns" verbage if they are unfamiliar with it, so their seller knows exactly what this means and that I could be the buyer, someone else could be the buyer, or a partner and I, etc If and when I step out of this deal, and my end buyer takes over, Listing agent will become end buyer's agent (intermediary, or the "messenger") unless end buyer is already licensed or represented.

The only two parties that are part of the 1031 Exchange Agreement are you and the Qualified Intermediary, so the only safe way to identify your replacement properties is to identify to your Qualified Intermediary.If for some reason you did not identify to the Qualified Intermediary or missed the deadline, then you can always try this as an argument should you get audited, but if the identification was not provided to the Qualified Intermediary there is no other "safe" way to do it. 

When you do it in a specific process managed by a qualified intermediary you get to defer payment of the tax normally associated on the gain from that sale.

And who should I hire as my qualified intermediary?

., There are a number of options that your Qualified Intermediary should be able to provide you.  

Can anyone recommend a good a Qualified Intermediary in the Detroit Metro area for a 1031 Exchange? 

I really love to work with a local Qualified Intermediary either in Dallas or Houston however i am open to firms in other states as well if I can't find a local QI.

What you will need to identify is a Qualified Intermediary that you would use to facilitate your exchange.

Finding the title company may be a chore in itself as usually the listing agent does not know and most of the time there is an intermediary law firm that you will need to contact to get the title company

First, I'm certainly not an ERISA attorney, nor am I very knowledgeable in this area...but I'll contribute what I do know...It seems very unlikely that you'll be able to argue that throwing an intermediary into the equation changes anything other than the fact that you didn't sell it directly to yourself.