I have four kids, with the last not even 72 hours old. 

Even if marked as commercial, getting it zoned as a storage lot seemed darn near impossible when I talked to the county. 

But, there are other ways like teaming up with someone and joint ventures where your credit isn’t even used.

You are unlikely to ever see that money even if the judge awards it to you.Kevin typed in the same thing, but was faster than me.

Or is this even their job?

My seller would be fine just releasing the earnest money but without any consent to cancel the contract from buyer I’m not even sure where to go from here.

Single family units are more than plentiful in this area so that was my target, however,  since our recent encounters with multiple hurricanes, insurance makes it near impossible to even remotely turn a profit as a landlord.  

My closing date is May 31, is it possible to get a 1031 set up at such a last minute point in time and is it even worth it?

Any kind of remote work would be an option: Virtual assisting, social media management, website design, etc.

I have been able to assist them with local builder contacts, local property management, and also helped with securing wildlife permits if applicable.