Qualified Opportunity Zones (QOZ) - Commercial Real Estate Investing

[Marie Thomas]

Hi everyone! I'm new to Bigger Pockets - Does anyone have experience investing in Qualified Opportunity Zones? 

I  am from New London County, grew up in Norwich/New London, and own a multifamily in Mystic, CT. 

My business partner and I have been speaking with a VC company that is heavily invested in NL and learned that if you purchase a building in a QOZ and hold onto it for 10 years you can avoid the capital gains. 

I have a strong network here and know the key players/stakeholders in the community and am trying to learn how I can get involved to make an impact to change the community and restore the existing (beautiful) infrastructure. 

There have been quite a few "hot-headed" investors who came through and were unsuccessful. If I did have an opportunity, where do I start and how do I raise funds for it? Is the political fight worth it?

Here is what I've gathered thus far:

"In exchange for their investments, Opportunity Zone Fund investors may be able to decrease their federal tax burden through the preferential treatment of capital gains — in three key ways.

• -Tax Deferral - First, any capital gains on the money reinvested in an Opportunity Zone Fund will be temporarily deferred.
• -Tax Reduction [no longer available for new investments] - Furthermore, the taxes on those capital gains may be reduced if the Opportunity Zone investment is held for at least 5 years — and even further reduced if held at least 7 years.
• -Tax Elimination - Finally, any capital gains on the Opportunity Zone investment itself can even be eliminated — if the investment is held at least 10 years. You’ll find more details on how these federal tax benefits work here."

https://portal.ct.gov/decd/content/community-development/04_...

Thanks so much!

Marie Thomas