Family Selling Ranch - How to avoid paying taxes on capital gains?

[Cody Sims]

Hello, my father is selling a ranch that he owns for 4 million and looking to downsize and purchase a lake property for about 1 million. So, this is putting him in the position to have to look at the possibility of doing a 1031 exchange on the 2.5 - 3.0 million that would otherwise be taxed at capital gain rates (he wants to avoid paying Uncle Sam at all costs). After looking into this a bit it seems like there is a rule of purchasing a "like" property to what was held? Is that so? Does that limit the purchase he could make? Ideally, he would roll the 2-3 million into a multifamily property to hold and cash flow from for retirement. The other questions would be is it possible to purchase multiple properties from the 2-3 million? Or does it have to be a single purchase?

Any insight from a tax pro and specifically someone who has gone through a 1031 exchange would be greatly appreciated!