Are there any restrictions as far as how long this home has to be a investment property before I am allowed to do a 1031?

You are restricted geographically by the coast and it's a place people want to be so long-term you can't go wrong (as long as you have hurricane insurance). 

If your lease requires you to collect a non refundable pet fee, I would impose it

really depends on how much money, but if the aim is to grow quickly and focus just on real estate for the money in the short term, be careful of retirement accounts where the restrictions limit your liquidity.

With the government imposing moritoriums, its a safe strategy to have month to month leases.

There are specialty products that allow for 5% down up to 4 units, but there are income restrictions based on your MSA, but the short answer is yes.Stephanie

However, there are (were) a number of new regulations and restrictions on short term rentals which dissuaded us from investing in the market. 

I did when I purchased my properties in Las Vegas at auctions between 2008 and 2020 and I made several million dollars.The next most-critical downside to owning long-distance properties is most property management companies probably do a great job, but due to the many restrictions and controls landlords limit them to and because property management companies don't have the latitude to always make instant decisions on-the-fly like a hand-on owner can then the property owner incurs more losses.

I don't really have any restrictions on the land contract. 

One of the things pointed out was: Restrictive covenant regarding the wetland mitigation area providing Department of the Army the ability to come onto the property for development purposes and restoring the mitigation area.