The deadline was NOT extended due to covid. 

Once I terminated section 8 and started demo on the first floor, I found the water damage to the interior brick extended all the way to the first floor.

The are touring potential buyers through the property and when they find a buyer then they stop extending the due diligence period.Only way to avoid them is to put NOT transferable or assignable in the contract, and make sure they use the standard state form, not their own contract that favors them only.There are times a wholeseller is ok to use. 

But if the tenant decides to destroy the place during eviction, you have now extended your timeline and rehab budget.  

This is nice for the agent because it's really frustrating to work with and educate someone for an extended period of time, show them a bunch of properties, and then find out they used another agent to purchase the property.

Not to make excuses (but kind of), but I'm overseas for most of this year and don't think I will have the time to be present and active enough to take advantage of the 1031 - I'm concerned I'd miss the window to purchase like properties, and it sounds like a fairly active and intensive process.However I might be able to pursue a similar option anyway, given something I discovered after my initial post: I may be eligible for a capital gains exemption due to having lived in the CA property for 2 of the last 15 years (military status extends/suspends the "2 out of 5" rule for up to 10 years). 

They have to rent in the interim as there is an extended waiting period before their new house was ready due to demand and supply constraints.In the end I wish I had 10 more houses to rent, but those currently on the market are priced so high, $1,695/month generally won't cash flow.

What do you think of fix/flippers working to extend their hold times out a little longer to take advantage of this recent spike in valuations and drastic drop in DOMs?

Full replacement vs cash value, basic coverage vs extended coverage, etc. 

Don't over-extend yourself, and look forward to the future when the rewards will start to snowball!