Should i pay more than the agreed upon price?

[Ryan Melander]

Hello BP community, sorry in advance if the forum is wrong but it doesn't seem like it fits in Legal.

I'm closing on a property early next month and i have a couple questions regarding changing the purchase price.  

This will be a cash purchase, some of the funds will be from a 1031 account, and rest will be from personal. The purchase of the "new" investment under 1031 exchange regulations must be equal to or more than the previous investment which is 165k.

Is it possible/legal for the purchase contract to be more than agreed upon price and have the seller give me a refund at closing?  The agreed upon price comes in quite a bit lower than the appraisal value.  Would this work to get me closer to the 165k to help meet the requirements for the 1031 exchange?  

For example - Say we agreed the purchase price was 30k and the appraisal comes in at 60k.  Would it be possible/legal to change and/or write a new purchase contract that states ill pay 60k for the property but the seller will give me 30k back at closing?

If the above example is legal, would it also be legal to pay more than the appraised value and have the seller refund the difference at closing? Are there any limits to this type of transition?  Any down sides to the seller as far as tax obligation?

[Dave Foster]

@Ryan Melander, Any cash that comes back to you over or under the table is boot and would be taxable.  Hopefully your QI concurs.  Best case is that the cash portion is taxable.  Worst case is that your entire exchange is disallowed.  

There are a few ways to slightly inflate the purchase  price to accommodate 1031 reinvestment requirements.  But nothing that involves cash coming back to you.