1031- NY to FL. SF v. MF v. multiple SF

[Brenda Mercado Baez]

Lurker/1st time poster here!

My husband and I own 3 homes: 2 rental duplexes and 1 single home in which we live in. We are looking to relocate to central Florida this year and want to sell one of the rental duplexes. Upon doing research and speaking with "experts", we are getting different info. We don't know if we should go the SF route or the MF route. We'd love to duplicate our current situation where one unit pays the mortgage and the second unit is ours free and clear. It seems that MF in Fl are not that common and the ones we've see are not in the greatest shape. We want this process to go as smoothly as possible however matters are complicated by the fact that we're not there. My husband will be visiting next month for a weekend to view properties so my questions are:

Considering it's Fl, should we look at MF or SF? And/or multiple SF? Which is what has been recommended.

How long can the list of properties be within the 45 days? Can the list be amended within the 45 days?

We just got the pre-qual letter, is there any other documentation we should obtain? What would the next step be?

Sorry for my ignorance, we're really new at this and are trying to do this in the most efficient and cost saving way possible. Thanks!

[Brian Sparr]

Hi @Brenda Mercado Baez -

1) I don't know the FL market, so I won't try to comment on the best approach as it relates to SF and MF properties.

2) The number of properties that you can identify depends - take a look at this article about the identification rules - it does a better job of explaining the options than I can.  Understand, though, that you can wait to the last day of the 45-day period to formally make the identification - you don't have to worry about amendments prior to that if you don't want to.

3) Using the term "pre-qual" makes me a little nervous - depending on the lender, that can mean drastically different things.  Did they pull credit? verify income? verify employment? look at tax returns?  Some lenders - especially if they work in very competitive markets - will take a serious borrower all the way through underwriting as part of their pre-approval process.  If they're willing to do this, it allows you to close faster and make offers with more confidence.

Hope this helps ... good luck!