Find a 1031 intermediary and see if it will work.

Caused lots of heart palpitations.The 1031 must be documented on the settlement statement at close and a qualified intermediary in place.  

Somewhat similar to what J Scott mentioned; in Texas a broker may act as a intermediary (dual agent) but cannot be held to the law of agency requirement of "loyalty" and therefore could not reveal information to either party from the other party.

This interaction, I assume there are no real estate agents involved, no BPO, or other intermediaries.  

@Tom Squire, If indeed he has a reverse exchange kicking then he has 180 days from the day the intermediary closed the purchase of his replacement property to complete the sale of this property.  

The agent deals with the buyer and acts as an intermediary preventing seller emotions from cratering a deal. 

There are some ways to list more than one property and that ability is your fall back to the potential loss of a property.Most Qualified intermediaries have a very specific protocol that they like you to follow.  

You'd need a good CPA and a Qualified Intermediary (for the 1031), but basically, you could take the Sec 121 exemption mentioned above (since you'd still have lived there for 2 out of the past 5 years if you only rent it out for 3) and then use the remaining value to purchase another investment property through a 1031 exchange, deferring taxation on the sale entirely.

Even so, I am a bit lost with my next steps.( FYI: I need to seal deals sight unseen from Bangkok, so I really need to work through trusted, solid intermediaries.

As you can see, most of the "outs" are maybes and we all will have different opinionsIs this the same transaction that you were wanted a delayed option period and using the listing agents firm in an intermediary relationship ?