Bulk sale rentals into a 1031 commercial purchase?

[Casey Reel]

Okay, I am feeling completely overwhelmed/uneducated in this new space I want to venture into. Partially due to the immense amount of research I’ve done without actually speaking with someone who has experience in this area and partially due to the possibility of selling with month-to-month tenants currently in place. (I love my tenants and this feels like a betrayal of sorts)

I have 8 doors that I originally planned to 1031 into 16+. However, after researching and years of managing I am strongly considering exchanging into a commercial/storage space. Is there a place to find investors who are actively looking to purchase multiple rental properties/portfolio? Where do I go for something like this? 

Part 2: I feel I haven’t gotten a clear answer on the next question: Does exchanging multi family investment properties for a commercial storage unit purchase qualify as “like-kind”? If so, I would really appreciate a referral for an appropriate lender for this type of transaction. 

This will be my first experience on this side of the real estate coin…unknown territory 🤩.

I love the challenge and learning new things and would ultimately love some guidance/advice from those who’ve done this before.

Thank you in advance,

-Casey

[Dave Foster]

@Casey Reel, any type of investment of any number anywhere in the US (if selling US property) for any other type, number, and location of investment real estate.

The key is that you must purchase at least as much as your aggregate net sales.  And you must use all of your aggregate proceeds from the sales in your purchase or purchases if you want to defer all tax.

If you are doing a consolidation exchange (selling several to purchase a larger property) then you'll need to try to cluster those sales as closely as you can so that your new property can be named on each 45 day list and you can close on it by day 180 of the first sale (the exchange that will expire first).

They're a little trickier.  But consolidation exchanges can be a real help when wanting to change classes of real estate and simplify effort and management.