Reverse Exchanges in a Downward Market – Part Two

(Listen Here 5:41 min)

This is part two of our discussion of reverse exchanges in a downward, declining market where opportunities come up fast. In the last podcast, we were discussing parking the ownership of the new replacement property with your exchange accommodation titleholder; a LLC typically set up by your qualified intermediary to park the ownership of  your new property.

Reverse Exchanges Options – Switching It Up

Sometimes it’s not advantageous to park your new property. Reasons can be that the financing can be too complicated to have an exchange accommodation titleholder acquire the new property.  It’s may not be feasible to get it through the financing committee when banks are already very jittery and uneasy.  In a declining market, the financing can be the lynchpin and we don’t want to upset the applecart with very sensitive lenders. Another reason you may not want to park the ownership of your new property in a holding company is, you may want to get your hands on it right away because there might be tax incentives that go with the property. Perhaps there are low income tax credits, or other credits related to the stimulus package that may encourage you to get into the property as soon as possible. You will want to take advantage of those tax incentives… you don’t want to waste them on some holding company that is holding the property as inventory.

How Do We Structure the Deal
So You Can Get Into the New Property as Soon as Possible?

The way we do the deal is, we structure the transaction as a front leg reverse exchange. (This is also sometimes called an “exchange first reverse exchange”) That means, we have the exchange accommodation titleholder, (the LLC) take title to your old relinquished property. That gets the property out of your name; you basically sell it to the exchange company. That liberates you and frees you up. Now you are no longer tied to that (old) property and this allows you to immediately acquire the new replacement property. Exchange is done… except one lingering detail; you still need to find a (real) buyer for the old relinquished property. The 1031 intermediary holding title through this LLC can only hold on to the property for 180 days (per Rev. Proc. 2000-37).

Rush to Sell Your old 1031 Exchange Property within 180 Days

What are you going to do? You will need to market the relinquished property and hopefully a third party purchaser will acquire the property from the intermediary. The Intermediary doesn’t have any money of its own, so it would have borrowed that money from you or from a bank with your guarantee. So, it behooves you to get the intermediary out of title and get the new purchaser in so you or your lender can get paid off and you can be free of the guarantee.

A White Knight to Your Rescue

The EAT (exchange accommodation titleholder), needs to get out of title…but, what if you can’t get a 3rd party purchaser and nobody will buy your old relinquished property?

The IRS has been rather liberal. In recent private letter rulings (PLR), where a related party, (i.e. your brother in law or some entity you have an interest in) comes in and buys the relinquished property and holds it for eventual sale. These recent private letter rulings are tolerant of a related party purchase from the EAT (exchange accommodation titleholder) and thus completing the reverse exchange in a nice tidy (180 day) transaction.

Excerpt from IRS Private Letter Ruling No. 2007-12013
Under the given facts and representations, Section 1031(f) will not apply to trigger recognition of any gain realized when (1) Taxpayer purchases like-kind Replacement Property from an unrelated third party via EAT, (2) Taxpayer sells Relinquished Property to Related Party for cash consideration received by a QI, and (3) Related Party disposes Relinquished Property within two years of the acquisition.

What Do You Need to Take Away From All of This

In a downward market you can’t wait around. You need to seize opportunities when they arise! A reverse exchange is another tool to get the deal done… tax deferred!  It allows you to purchase a property by having your exchange accommodation titleholder acquire either the new property or alternatively, take title to your old relinquished property, thus freeing you up to immediately acquire this new replacement property. Reverse exchanges are excellent and powerful tools, but they are sophisticated creatures. You need to have your CPA, your tax attorney and all your other advisors on board to get these deals done correctly.

About the Author:

Jeff Peterson (AKA: "Professor 1031") is a Qualified Intermediary and Serves as an Adjunct-Professor for the William Mitchell College of Law (Where He Teaches About Federal Income Tax). Jeff Works With People From All Over the USA to Save Money on Federal Capital Gains Taxes.

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