Tax shelter if selling stock to buy real estate?

[Kimberly Keesler]

Does anyone know if a person qualifies for a certain tax break if they sell corporate stock but immediatly turn around and buy a piece of real estate for investment purposes?  Is there a way to do this (legally of course) and not pay the capital gains tax if you're just turning around and investing the money 

[Christopher Phillips]

@Kimberly Keesler

@Jason Chen

No. IRS considers sale of stock in a brokerage account as mutually exclusive from real estate purchases. So, there's no mechanism to sell your "Ebay" or "Tesla" stock and roll it into a house.

If the shares were held in a 401K, you could take a loan against that to use as a down payment. Or if in an IRA you can withdraw up to $10,000 to use as a down payment without a penalty for a first time homebuyer. But, if the stocks are held in a regular brokerage account and you sell them you'll have to pay capital gains taxes unless you have enough losses to offset your gains.