I suspect that this lady may be involved in the scam and then takes a cut of any money wired to the supposed lender. 

If you want your money back faster look for a refi.

I have also considered investing outside of California, but frankly, I keep finding really good deals here and so my money stays in-state. 

In my opinion, i dont think the price can get lower than now which means that from here they will slightly start going up, I reckon it might be very slow, but unless you are in a hurry to sell, i think it can be a very good investment with the years; by now, apart from enjoying the great enviroment and food here, you can also rent it, in high season you can get really good money by renting to foreigners (especially English and Nordics) that follow the spanish sun even in winter!

My guess would be that as this GP is doing 1031 as a TIC into the deal he would be a little less likely to want a sale, which is a taxable capital event, and would like to keep his money invested and sheltered from taxation as long as possible which tends to fit with my investing style of long term/preferably forever investing.        

That's a place where someone can make REAL money and have a few crews out doing the actual work. 

The age old question of how to get started in RE will always have its answers and like many said above it is not easy, if you live in FLA and do not have FLA money what do you do? 

Do you have downpayment money ready to invest when you find the right option? 

Get an idea of how much extra money you have available to put into the business consistently. 

However, more money has been made the other way; scaling to volume.