1031 Qualified Intermediary

[Brendan R.]

Should I use someone local or a national company as my QI?

Any recommendations or experiences are welcome.

[Bill Exeter]

I think the most important is doing business with a Qualified Intermediary that has the experience and the expertise to administer your 1031 Exchange transaction.  There were a number of comments above regarding the size of the company and the financial strength, but I would disagree with that and use LandAmerica as an example.  They were one of the top five in terms of size, had significant bonding, and we part of a larger organization that included title insurance and escrow operations.  However, they got greedy and invested their 1031 Exchange funds in auction rate securities and the QI ended up taking the entire company down.  It is not the size of the company but the way you manage it that counts.  A conservative management philosophy (without greed) combined with experience and expertise is the way to go.