Stepped up basis issue

[Jeremy Benezra]

As you may have seen in another of my posts, my wife and I recently moved out of the city and bought a house in the ‘burbs! I already owned the house we used to live in prior to meeting my wife. I recently quitclaimed that house into my single member LLC and turned it into a rental. It's appreciated in value considerably while I've owned it.

I know there is the 250k exemption on profits from the sale of your primary residence but that has to have been your primary residence 2 of the last 5 years.

I remember reading a BP post about how to have a property transfer count as a sale without triggering all the normal excise taxes and such.  I searched BP and learned a lot about stepped up basis but couldn’t find this exact situation.

Would the quitclaim from me being personally on title to my LLC being on title count as a transfer? If the LLC could take the property at a stepped up basis then way down the road when I sell the property I'd have a lower taxable income.

Is my understanding of the situation correct?  Is there a way to bend things in my favor?

Thanks!