Hi, Victor, welcome to BP.Consider joining this FB group Western Mass REIA and attend their events when they resume. 

That's puzzle piece number 1.Puzzle piece number 2 in the 1031 exchange is your reinvestment requirements - in this case you sold for 500K so you must buy for 500K.Puzzle piece #3 is that you netted after mortgage pay off 100K in cash - So you must use all 100K in the next purchase or purchases.So now just run the scenarios - your potential tax bill in CA on 100K of profit could easily be  30,000 or more.If you do a 1031 and buy for 500K and use all 100K in cash then you would pay no tax.If you do a 1031 and buy for 400K then the IRS perceives that as taking 100K in profit called boot (yes you might say that it is a return of capital or whatever but they have nuclear weapons and you don't so their interpretation wins).  

But once this is rented and cash flowing, your savings can resume and be added to the cash flow that is generated, thus accelerating things.  

I honestly only contacted a few people with cold calls so I'll resume doing that instead of waiting around for me to acquire my license and finding folks willing to help me find investor friendly folks to work with.  

Found many that were sales pitches, some were full of people that had a really nice resume, well nice if their profession was creative writing.

This will allow you to get a realistic understanding of what you can/can’t afford and a baseline for what you need to do to improve you position and any additional capital to save.  2) Lenders will request the below preliminary information.Name of entity (organizational chart if applicable)Personal Financial Statement (PFS)Schedule of Real Estate Owned for each borrower/guarantor (SREO)Resume/Bio for each borrower/guarantor, if applicableBank statements for verification of depositsLast 2-3 years of tax returnsI recommend using a mortgage broker in your area that is able to connect you with top commercial lenders to get you multiple competitive offers.

IE You guys are a white nuclear family, and they picked you because they "think you are a better fit" than the gay black couple that also wrote an offer.

My line of work (nuclear engineering), I view everything in incredibly strict, detail-oriented processes. 

Few want to or are willing to resume / fix / take over another person's work. 

Before the pandemic, we would have gotten hundreds of resumes for jobs like these.