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.
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.
The zero-coupon DST: a specialist tool for the heavily leveraged exchanger
Sell a property with a large mortgage and you must replace that debt or pay tax on the shortfall. There is a structure built for exactly that problem, and it pays you nothing along the way.
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.
FIRPTA and the foreign seller: 15% of the price, gone before the exchange starts
A foreign owner can absolutely do a 1031 exchange. The problem is that federal law tells the buyer to withhold 15% of the sale price first, and getting it released takes paperwork nobody starts early enough.
How a DST ends: the exit conversation to have before you invest
Most DST material sells the entry. The part that decides your outcome is the exit, and one increasingly common structure can hand your decision to the sponsor instead of you.
Your exchange isn't finished at closing: reporting it on Form 8824
You closed, you deferred, you moved on. But the IRS does not know any of that until you tell it. The exchange is only complete when it is reported, and one form does the telling.
The state wants its cut at closing: withholding on out-of-state sellers
You structured the exchange perfectly, and then escrow announces it is holding back several percent of your sale price for a state you do not live in. Usually avoidable, but only before closing.
Divorce and the 1031 exchange: untangling a property two people own
The same-taxpayer rule assumes the person who sells is the person who buys. Divorce breaks that assumption, and the fix depends entirely on whether you act before the sale or after.
What happens if you die in the middle of a 1031 exchange
It is the question nobody wants to ask and every family eventually needs answered. The exchange does not automatically die with you, and how it is handled decides whether your heirs inherit a tax bill.
One into many, many into one: using a 1031 to reshape a portfolio
A 1031 exchange is not required to be one building for one building. You can split a single sale across several properties, or roll a scattered portfolio into one. Same clock, different math.
When a 1031 fails: what actually happens, and the timing quirk that can save you
Miss a deadline and the deferral is gone. But a failed exchange is not always a disaster in the year you expect, because of how the 180-day window straddles two tax years.
Mortgage boot: the debt rule that surprises 1031 investors at the closing table
Most people know they have to reinvest all their cash. Fewer know they usually have to replace their debt too. Pay off a big mortgage and buy with a small one, and the gap is taxable.
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Occasional, substantive notes on tax-deferral strategy and replacement-property trends. No noise.