Keep rentals or 1031 them to a Delaware Statutory Trust (DST) ?

[Nikki Lee]

Should an investor keep his rental properties or do a 1031 exchange to several Delaware Statutory Trusts (DST) ?

Scenario:

- The investor currently has about 10 rental properties that are all paid off.

- The investor's net worth has grown significantly over the years and is starting to get tired of the hassles of being a residential landlord.

- Because of the increased net worth and the liability of being a landlord, the investor will also prefer to have less liability.

- The investor would like to be able to do a 1031 exchange of all 10 rental properties for a single larger commercial property, but it's hard to sell all 10 rental properties at one time for a good price. 

- Thus, the investor is thinking about selling each rental property individually (one at a time) and do a 1031 Exchange into a Delaware Statutory Trust (DST) after each sale. So after selling all 10 properties, the investor would have 10 different Delaware Statutory Trusts, which is more diversified that having just one Delaware Statutory Trust.

Is this a good plan?  Any flaws with this plan?  Any tips on how to improve this plan?  

Thank you.