Q: Owners of occupied triplex seek acreage out-of-state via 1031

[Christopher Ferrouge]

Hello Fin-savvy friends!  I'll keep this concise because it's complicated (I don't understand it... questions below). 

Circumstance: Wife and I live in 1 of 3 units within an Oakland CA triplex purchased in 2010.  We wish to eventually buy acres in some other state, but don't understand the complexities of 121 sales portions vs. 1031 sales portions as it pertains to:

?  How much $% cash we'd get tax-free out of a sale.

?  How much $% we'd need to 1031 exchange into the new property.

?  Minimum $ value the new property must be.

?  Whether or not we must rent out a portion of the new property in order to utilize a 1031 exchange for tax-saving.

My circumstances are the most complex I've seen, and I've never sold a property before let alone an owner-occupied MF property.

- Original 2010 purchase price: $291,000.

- Approximate sale price: $ 1 million

- Approximately 60% of triplex is rented out (by square footage, as noted on our annual tax statements. 40% owner-occupied).

- Current mortgage debt: $500k (we pulled cash out of a refi a few years ago to purchase/rehab another rental in Boise Idaho).

Can we do this if we're buying raw land with intent to build?

Must we rent out a building on the new land in order to satisfy 1031 exchange rules, or can we just buy the property for ourselves?

If we must rent out a building on the land, must that portion of the property directly equal the value of the 1031 exchanged portion of my sale proceeds?

If we must rent out a building on the new land which has a value at least equal to 60% of the sold proceeds, how many years until we're allowed to evict them and fully occupy 100% of the new property?

Since we still owe $500k on our mortgage, do we need to add that mortgage to the value of the newly purchased property?  In other words, do we need to buy a 1-million dollar property at minimum, or only 60% of the proceeds of the sale (1031 proceeds portion)?

BONUS QUESTION:  Can we sell two properties (triplex in CA + one rental in Idaho) at the same time, and 1031 exchange proceeds from both, to buy into said acreage dream property. 

I know this is complex, so we'd REALLY appreciate anyone who can help parse this out, in part, or in whole!

Christopher & Anais  <3

[Dave Foster]

@Christopher Ferrouge, Your gain is around $700K.  $280K of that is associated with the 121 (owner occupied) part.  $420K associated with the investment portion.

You could take $280 K tax free for the primary exclusion.

Your responsibilities then for the 1031 investment portion would be to purchase at least $600K in real estate using all $220K of cash (after taking the primary exemption).  Is you want to defer all the tax from the investment portion.

Yep, a little complicated.  But you've hit on the trifecta here.  You'll get part of the gain tax free and you'll be able to defer the rest in the 1031.