Buyer and Seller both doing 1031

[Chris Coleman]

Can a Seller and a Buyer use the same company for managing a 1031 Exchange? If so, should we? I’m selling a property and doing a 1031 Exchange into a new property. The buyer of my property is also doing a 1031 into the purchase of my property. Could we, should we use the same 1031 Exchange Agent? Would it make things easier or save any money in fees? Or does it even matter?

[Joel Owens]

Doubtful you would save fees. 1031 companies to hold funds the good ones have adequate insurance policies and other safeguards which cost money to maintain.

My criteria is more the experience of the 1031 company and how credible versus shaving 100 dollars off of a typical fee multi-thousand fee etc. The more lower the fee with volume typically the less they will be focused on your transaction and when you can have depreciation recapture, capital gains taxes, and possibly state income tax from a failed exchange you could lose a lot.

I don't like stepping over dollars to save pennies.

With 1031 exchanges with my client commercial buyers we ask if the seller is making finding a suitable replacement 1031 property part of the sale? Usually they say they are doing an exchange but they will not make it a requirement. This is important for the buyer because if the seller did not find a suitable replacement property and my buyer selected them for a replacement property and spent tens of thousands in legal fees and costs they could lose big.