Keep pushing and good luck to you on your journey!

My humble advice to anyone attempting to do creative finance is:Creative finance is for experienced investors who have access to capital if anything goes wrong.Learn the lawsDon't use a contract "off the internet", laws vary by state and are also regulated on a federal levelLearn the financing techniques correctlyDon’t skip parts of the processDon’t ever do a “kitchen table” closingUse the proper deedAn attorney can help you with the legal work, but the rest you are on your ownYour guru will not bail you out“Investing” in someone else’s deal by providing a small 2nd loan so the “investor” can pay for “cash to the seller” and for “closing costs” so he can do the deal is a very bad planKnow what problems can ariseLearn the responses and solutions to problems before they are neededKnow everything there is to know about Title and what that meansKnow who a "protected class" individual isLearn the "back doors"Learn human natureUnderstand timelinesUnderstand regulation enforcement (some of these "mistakes" have a 10 year statue of limitations ( they can charge you 10 years AFTER you do the transaction) and carry hefty fines and possible imprisonmentThe court doesn't accept "I didn't know" for an answer"Know that the source of the lead plays a serious role in some states and federallyKnow how much of a "profit" pushes the boundaries to invite an investigationYou can be sued by the seller if you don’t do things correctlyYou are automatically at fault if an investigator or attorney or regulator gets involved.

No push back.

. - AOA Debt Reporting Service: letter sent w 120 days to pay (with credit bureau reporting) after which it rolls over contingency plan with collection agency getting 38%.I know I would not want the task for what they charge.  

The condo I'm selling in CA could sell for approximately $600k, and I was thinking of rolling that into 2 condo/townhomes valued at about $250k each, then doing DST for the remaining around $100 for the 1031.

It will allow you to roll existing retirement funds into the 401k (save Roth IRA) and self direct those funds.  

I'd love to see a copy of it as I'm dealing with a potential tenant who's pushing things a bit.

And how do I roll this into a cheaper mortgage (my dti would be too bad for another conventional).Maybe a lender would be able to consider the electric "working" with the proper inspection?

At some point that market becomes saturated, pushing revenues down and the extra juice won't be worth the squeeze. 

STR is a bit weird because the Covid travel demand pushed the price hardcore for the last few years.