Bottom line is not all that glamorous but pays the bills.I think your idea is great, it requires skill to put together a spec build, design, and sell, not to mention finding the right deal will also be a challenge, the good thing about it is there is less risk of the unforeseen factor aka surprise expense.

Bottom line faster is always better.

But more importantly the bright line test appears to be the "intent' of the tax payer.If your intent was primarily to resell (most interpret that as a forced appreciation/value add/low ball purchase scenario where the desired equity is present at the time of purchase) then you are treating the property as inventory and 1031 is not appropriate.If your intent was to hold to use or to generate income from, or to take advantage of longer term appreciation then you are treating it as an investment and 1031 is appropriate. 

I am not an expert, and, as such, would not make a suggestion where your money or freedom is on the line.

If you don’t have any jobs lined up there is a good chance your financing will fall through.

you either own the property and you lease optioned it or sold it on an unrecorded contract.. and title did not transfer. or you sold it and title transferred and you took back a note which would be a second it sounds like ..bottom line is your not explaining this correctly and only giving crumbs of what the situation is.. so its really impossible to give recommendations when you don't even know what you did or did not do.. so IF YOU transferred title and took back a mortgage and NOTE  which the only reason you take a note is if you have a mortgage tied to it..and you transferred title sub too your existing loan.. and your loan is a second or a wrap.. you can now foreclose and take it back over but you need to pay off the underlying or they are going to wipe you both out

“Back” will send me back to the sub forum page, not the page with subject line for the message I’m writing. - App crashed more often then not: it crashed a lot for me in the last couple of days, especially right after I hit submit to post my message. 

The idea that an area 'might' gentrify in the future is not something to bet on when you're just starting out.

they can spend a hundred bucks and on line  get a quack Dr. from the other side of the country to give an ESA paper . 

If other people notice that, then it's a perfect opportunity to bring down the price and then maybe build a trellis along the fence line or similar, that will block the view for much of the yard.