He made a lot of money and the developer is the “hated” villain but my initial protege knew what the land was going to be used for.  

If you want the best rate, I would find the cheapest online lender you can find where you are number 37 out of 70 for the month.

Will having money fix that issue?

We plan to make money on the properties.

The real work is locating these properties and I've learned the best way to do this is to work in towns/areas that have online GIS systems that map; topography, wetlands, soils, etc. and assessors data available for download either from local sources or listsource.com.  

But. you'll have to see what your net gain is before you can see if you'll save any money with your 1031 exchange.

However, if you intend to work with a hard money lender or utilize a short-term loan product, you're on the clock for repayment, which can be stressful if things go sideways. 

Which will also depend on the neighborhood.You want to, "rehab/maintain to the Neighborhood".Most investors go overboard on their first rehab and waste a decent amount of money.

In the meantime I would put the money in a low risk account gaining 4-5% which for $250k would be around $1k/month.

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