Rental Property Investor · Rancho Mirage, CA · Member since 2014 · 101 posts · 63 votes
Hello all,
I generally understand the 1031 rules and process. I really not looking for a recap on the basic rules or concept. Got all that. Thanks.
However... In some Loopnet listing research I noticed that it's somewhat common to see listing that is mixed. Such as a 32 unit plus a house in the same compound, or two adjacent complexes being sold as one. Or a portfolio hodgepodge of smaller buildings being offered as one package.
I also notice that some complexes that are seemingly one property with multiple buildings sometimes have several or separate parcel numbers for the purposes of property tax assessment and such.
Is there some guidance on what is "one" 1031 pick and what would count as more. I am assuming that a portfolio being sold as one is really as many properties as it lists in the portfolio. What about the other examples I gave?
Generally speaking, each separate property is counted as a seperate ID. The exception is if it is a "contiguous business unit" (operated as a single business operation) for example a parking garage across the street from an office building which services the office. Note that contiguous properties from 2 different sellers are typically counted as 2 IDs.
Multiple parcel numbers usually doesn't matter as it is not uncommon for a commercial property to sit on multiple tax parcels.
@Michael Klinger, One addition to what @Drew Reynolds explained very well - much will depend on how you contract it and how you want to identify it. If you want to identify 12 different houses that will go into one contract as one bundle from one seller (think portfolio) then that would also be one property for your identification. However you must be careful because purchasing that identified property means you must purchase all (12 units) of that property. But that could be one identification.
The flip side of that is true as well. You could name several contiguous properties from one owner as separate identifications if you were not sure you were going to want all of them or if you wanted to split use on the portfolio.
The way in which you want to contract can be important.