Strategy, markets & tax-deferral thinking.
Clear, practical perspective on 1031 exchanges, DSTs, and building durable real estate wealth — written for owners and investors, not specialists.
One building, two tax breaks: splitting a duplex between Section 121 and a 1031
You live upstairs and rent downstairs. When you sell, the IRS is willing to treat that as two transactions, and each half gets a different, genuinely valuable break.
When the distributions stop: what actually happens if a DST goes wrong
Most DST material describes the good outcome. Distributions can be cut or suspended, values can fall, and you have almost no levers. Knowing that in advance changes how you buy.
Can you exchange into a building you already own part of? Usually no, with one real exception
The rule sounds absolute: an exchange requires acquiring new property. Then a partner wants out of the LLC you are already in, and a revenue ruling quietly changes the answer.
Who holds the deed while you wait? Inside the parking arrangement
A reverse exchange only works because someone else owns your new property for a while. The safe harbor that permits it comes with a five-day document and a hard 180-day ceiling.
Selling the hotel, the restaurant, the practice: only part of that price can be exchanged
When a business sells with its building, the contract is really three sales at once. Since 2017 only one of them qualifies, and how the price is allocated decides your tax bill.
Boot netting: cash cures debt, but debt never cures cash
Only net boot is taxed, and the offsets follow rules that run in one direction. Understanding which way they run is what separates a clean exchange from an avoidable bill.
Two paragraphs in the contract: the cooperation clause nobody reads until it's missing
Your purchase and sale agreement is where an exchange quietly succeeds or fails. The language is short, costs the other side nothing, and is far harder to add once the contract is signed.
You have to name the property before you finish inspecting it
The 45-day rule forces a genuinely uncomfortable sequence: commit to a list first, learn what you actually bought second. Front-loading diligence is the only real defense.
Your entire sale sits in a stranger's account. Here's how to make sure it's still there
Qualified intermediaries are not banks and are not federally regulated. When one failed in 2008, the investors who had insisted on segregated accounts got their money back. Most of the others waited years.
The 30-year rule: when a lease is treated like owning the land outright
A long ground lease is not fee ownership, but the tax code stops caring at a certain point. Thirty years of remaining term, options included, and it becomes like-kind to real estate you own.
Mineral rights, water rights, easements: the real property you forgot you owned
Not every 1031 starts with a building. Perpetual water rights, oil and gas interests, and conservation easements can all be real property, and they trade for apartment buildings.
Your new building depreciates on two schedules, and only one of them is new
A common assumption after closing is that depreciation starts fresh. It does not. The old basis keeps running on its original clock, and only the money you added gets a new one.
Can you do a 1031 exchange inside a self-directed IRA? You almost certainly don't need to
It is one of the most common questions we get, and the answer is a small relief: an IRA is already tax-deferred, so there is usually no gain to defer. The real issue is a different set of letters.
DST or REIT? They sound like cousins and behave like strangers
Both let you own professionally managed real estate without lifting a finger. Only one of them can receive your exchange proceeds, and the difference is not a technicality.
Whose name is on the deed? Vesting is the detail that quietly decides your exchange
You can move a property into an LLC or a living trust and still exchange it. You cannot swap in a business partner, a corporation, or your kids. The line between those is worth knowing before you sign.
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Occasional, substantive notes on tax-deferral strategy and replacement-property trends. No noise.