Selling rental property to purchase more rental property.

[Robert Thompson]

I want to sell a piece of rental property in Colorado and buy more rental property in North Carolina. 

How do I keep from paying capital gains tax?

Can I use some of the profit to pay down the mortgage on other rental property I own?

I'm not looking to cash out. I just want to swap my property in Colorado for more property in North Carolina.

Thanks

[Charlie Fitzgerald]

@Robert Thompson I've posted on this topic before a couple of times, and my experience is that in the vast majority of cases, people that do sell assets to go buy different ones elsewhere, find that they made no economic headway as they forget to calculate the costs of the sales of the current assets to free up the capital needed to acquire the new ones. You are also killing an existing cash flow, appreciation and depreciation benefits stream when you sell. I use the example of selling your fish, to buy worms, to go fishing. I'd be interested in knowing the "why?" behind your plan to divest in REI in Colorado in order to invest in REI in NC. I see you are in NC, so I presume that has something to do with it.